Article

2012-04-19 India-Pakistan

India tests nuke-capable missile able to hit China

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by tipper 2012-04-19 02:15|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

Posted by john frum 2012-04-19 06:33|| 2012-04-19 06:33|| Front Page Top

Posted by john frum 2012-04-19 06:34|| 2012-04-19 06:34|| Front Page Top

#3 For now, more testing lies ahead, says the DRDO chief. We will have two more test launches of the Agni-5, and then productionise it for induction into field service with the Strategic Forces Command. We will also start working on different variants of the Agni-5, including MIRVs (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles), anti satellite systems, and on making the Agni-5 capable of launching military satellites on demand, says Saraswat.

Posted by john frum 2012-04-19 06:36|| 2012-04-19 06:36|| Front Page Top

#4 You see, Pudgy? That's how it's done.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2012-04-19 12:07|| 2012-04-19 12:07|| Front Page Top

#5 The fireball that erupted when the dummy payload hit the waters of the Indian Ocean was recorded by the cameras on board the ships stationed around the impact point.

Posted by John Frum 2012-04-19 13:16|| 2012-04-19 13:16|| Front Page Top

Posted by John Frum 2012-04-19 13:21|| 2012-04-19 13:21|| Front Page Top

#7 Oh dear. Now Europe is going to have to thread between not annoying Russia, not annoying Iran, and not annoying India, as all three have missiles that can reach Europe.

Posted by trailing wife 2012-04-19 13:25|| 2012-04-19 13:25|| Front Page Top

#8 I wonder if these new Indian missiles are actually more advanced, more accurate and easier to control than American, Chinese or Russian ICBMs due to scientific/technological advances in recent years...a sort of a next generation of ICBMs if you will.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2012-04-19 13:29|| 2012-04-19 13:29|| Front Page Top

#9 The test itself was a huge technological and logistical challenge. After lifting-off from the mobile launcher at the test range, the missile being propelled by the first stage that burnt out and separated in 90 seconds tore into the sky.

After heading into space during its parabolic trajectory, reaching an altitude of 600-km, the missile then re-entered the atmosphere powered by the third stage.

The missile reached hypersonic velocities of around 7,000-metre per second in the terminal stage before splashing down in the southern Indian Ocean, all along being monitored by shore and warship-based tracking systems.

''All three stages went off extremely well. The re-entry parameters were superb...all terminal events related to detonation of the warhead (it was a dummy payload for the test) happened in textbook style. As missile scientists, we could not have expected anything better,'' Saraswat told TOI.

Unlike the earlier largely rail-mobile missiles, Agni-V can be easily stored in hermitically sealed canisters and swiftly transported atop launcher trucks by road. This will give the armed forces the required operational flexibility to pick and choose from where to launch the missiles.

Agni-V has a ''highly accurate'' inertial navigation system and will get an even more potent punch with MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) warheads. An MIRV payload carries several nuclear warheads on a single missile that can be programmed to hit different targets.

A flurry of MIRV missiles can hence completely overwhelm an adversary's ballistic missile defences. DRDO has also worked to reduce the radar and other ''signatures'' of missiles like Agni-IV and Agni-V to make them ''much more immune to counter-measures''.

Posted by john frum 2012-04-19 18:49|| 2012-04-19 18:49|| Front Page Top

23:56 JosephMendiola
23:39 canalzone
23:28 Secret Master
23:27 SteveS
23:16 crosspatch
23:12 trailing wife
23:09 USN, Ret.
22:56 USN, Ret.
22:53 JosephMendiola
22:42 JosephMendiola
22:39 JosephMendiola
22:34 JosephMendiola
22:29 JosephMendiola
22:19 Chomoque Poodle9080
22:08 crosspatch
21:56 phil_b
20:03 gorb
19:58 gorb
19:45 rammer
19:40 rammer
19:37 Deacon Blues
19:34 Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division
19:24 rammer
19:01 Secret Asian Man