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| India-Pakistan |
| India to test K15 SLBM next week |
| 2008-02-15 |
| BALASORE: After successfully test-firing anti-ballistic missiles and the land version of the Agni series, Indian defence scientists are preparing to launch a ballistic missile from under water. The ballistic missile (SLBM) K-15 is to be test-fired from an underwater launcher, a replica of a submarine, next week. "The missile will be fired on February 24 or 25 from INS Kalinga, about 13 km from Vishakhapatnam,'' a source at the integrated test range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea told TOI. "The missile will be fired from an underwater launcher 50 metres deep and about eight km from the coastline. Called Pontoon, the launcher has been designed by Electronics Corporation of India,'' said the source, adding that a strategic missile with a strike range of 750 km will be used for the purpose. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #3 "a secret, completely enclosed facility" Ummmm - not anymore. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-02-15 20:11 |
| #2 The India Today article mentions three K15 missiles to each tube with the option to replace them with a single Agni-3 SLBM variant LAUNCHING PLATFORMS FOR PROJECT K-15 Looking at that photo of the inside of the tube, it appears that the opening is one of three. I assume the missile cannister will be lowered into this tube frame. |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-02-15 18:56 |
| #1 The secret undersea weapon Located up the winding shipping channel in Visakhapatnam harbour is a secret, completely enclosed facility known only as the Shipbuilding Centre (SBC). Inside this dry dock, nearly 50m below ground level, is a cylindrical black shape, which is as tall as a two-storey building and at 104 m in length, is longer than the Qutub Minar lying on its side. Technicians working on it confess to a surge of national pride: IndiaÂ’s first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine or SSBN is arguably its greatest engineering project. |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-02-15 16:55 |