Indian Missiles and Munitions Discussion

AdityaM · Post by **AdityaM** » 24 Apr 2012 20:42

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/news ... wsid=18020

BEL suffered major setbacks during this past financial year. The company failed to complete delivery of the Akash SAMs (Surface-to-Air Missiles) and, only managed to deliver 50 out of 96 that were originally ordered. “Production has resumed again after facing technical difficulties. We are hoping to complete the order by December 12, 2012”.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 24 Apr 2012 20:57

^^that means chinese have already shipped the missiles and manuals in pinglish and assembled.. this time it was easier because the courier service took an airdash.

btw, that video link has NSFW sub-contents [warning]

BrijeshB · Post by **BrijeshB** » 24 Apr 2012 21:03

SaiK wrote:^^that means chinese have already shipped the missiles and manuals in pinglish and assembled.. this time it was easier because the courier service took an airdash.

btw, that video link has NSFW sub-contents [warning]

Saiksir, if this is true, hw this will affect the Israel factor wrt chipandas...

?

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 24 Apr 2012 21:32

I sincerely hope it is not true.. but highly plausible thought though.

recently the chinese had problems with oil deals with Iran.. and are in confused state.
if Israel attacks iranian oil [right time actually].. chinese are screwed from double side.

things can be fluctuating for pakis, but pakis are already screwed.

I think we should keep our ABM tests ready.. just in case those paki ones veers off trajectory and hits our land.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 24 Apr 2012 21:46

So, China has supplied dwarf missiles to Pakistan? Hope they remembered to send blue prints for toilets too.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 24 Apr 2012 21:56

NRao wrote:So, China has supplied dwarf missiles to Pakistan? Hope they remembered to send blue prints for toilets too.

Well done

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 24 Apr 2012 21:59

sum wrote:^^ Am sure they would be collected in "development phases" of the missile. Surely, a missile pulled out of the user stock cannot have new RVs etc to test compared to what what there when inducted.

If it is not so, it is wrong to call it a user trial and can be called as development trials itself since the missile has been modified and isnt from user stock?

There is the possibility that A1 and A2 will be tested with the latest Guidance and control combo pack (RINS+MINGS). So you do need telemetry and tracking data to analyze the performance of the subsystems. There may be other subsystem up-gradations too.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 24 Apr 2012 22:00

well, normally it would not take more than few hours of painting job.. if you consider die-hard jihadies about 50 of them with green brush. this is not the case of blue-prints, rather a case of how to show a scaled down version of dwarf case.. I would doubt any of those Df31s are designed like agni series, hence dwarfing would be impossible.

Dunno.. and I am sure it should be some oldie boldie one.. so that old paki musharrafs have some stinks remain to maintain parity with India.

pakis are on the last die point in life.. they have to give up kashmir, and after that avalanche imagine this one hits another avalanche again.

and even blue prints for toilets will not help them.. as the saying goes in malloo land.. can't dig the ground like cat, when they have to go.. and this one would be done inside their pants onlee.

BrijeshB · Post by **BrijeshB** » 24 Apr 2012 22:05

SaiK wrote:well, normally it would not take more than few hours of painting job.. if you consider die-hard jihadies about 50 of them with green brush. this is not the case of blue-prints, rather a case of how to show a scaled down version of dwarf case.. I would doubt any of those Df31s are designed like agni series, hence dwarfing would be impossible.

Dunno.. and I am sure it should be some oldie boldie one.. so that old paki musharrafs have some stinks remain to maintain parity with India.

pakis are on the last die point in life.. they have to give up kashmir, and after that avalanche imagine this one hits another avalanche again.

and even blue prints for toilets will not help them.. as the saying goes in malloo land.. can't dig the ground like cat, when they have to go.. and this one would be done inside their pants onlee.

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 24 Apr 2012 22:05

Missile Mélange: Behind the scenes at the launch of Agni V
Good read.

An emotional DRDO chief VK Saraswat told Kalam, “Sir, the funny guys have done it again.” This was reference to the term ‘Funny Guys’ that Kalam called them when he was DRDO chief, particularly when the team goofed up. So grateful is the missile team of Kalam’s guidance in the past that they plan to send a proposal to the government to rename Wheeler Island as Kalam Island.

I am all for it!

BrijeshB · Post by **BrijeshB** » 24 Apr 2012 22:11

@rohitvats

^^^After the NOKO ding-dong blew up in the mid-air, poakroaches might be worried about the stuff they have been sold. Hence, a test for QC purpose and that too, over water because last thing a general sahab wants is some metal piece falling into his lawn....!!!

So might be a noko test-II

from Paki

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 24 Apr 2012 22:14

As a wag remarked, “We do champagne stuff for the country by spending just beer money!

Another quote for everyone to match us.

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 24 Apr 2012 22:15

Old report. I do not remember seeing it here.
AGni V fires India into ICBM League - Raj Chengappa

Cries of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ rant the air as did ‘India and DRDO Zindabad’. Many retired senior scientists who were invited to witness the launch had tears in their eyes as they savoured the moment. Addressing the gathering from atop the shoulders of his team members, Saraswat said, “Today we have made history. India is now a major missile power. We have done India proud.”

India’s missile scientists had, indeed, made history. Not only had they got the whole nation riveted to TV sets early in the morning but had also fired a shot that was heard across the world. April 19, 2012, will long be remembered in the annals of India’s strategic weapons quest as the day on which India finally came of age in terms of missilery.

With the success of Agni V, Chander told his wildly cheering team, “India had joined the select club of nations with Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capabilities. Now we have the capability of developing and deploying missiles, anywhere, to any place in the world and at any time.”

“Most important the future will have intelligent warheads which are able to detect counter measures against them by the enemy and take evasive measures.”

Sensors aboard the RV??

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 24 Apr 2012 22:25

It could be more on the Stages. I want to know which ABM can defeat a 25 mach agni bhairva hurling down from the skies for doom?

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 24 Apr 2012 22:36

nah lets stop with these renaming.

Let it be Wheeler

one of the complexes or something coming up can be named after Kalam

jaladipc · Post by **jaladipc** » 25 Apr 2012 01:58

pankajs wrote:Old report. I do not remember seeing it here.
AGni V fires India into ICBM League - Raj Chengappa
Cries of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ rant the air as did ‘India and DRDO Zindabad’. Many retired senior scientists who were invited to witness the launch had tears in their eyes as they savoured the moment. Addressing the gathering from atop the shoulders of his team members, Saraswat said, “Today we have made history. India is now a major missile power. We have done India proud.”

India’s missile scientists had, indeed, made history. Not only had they got the whole nation riveted to TV sets early in the morning but had also fired a shot that was heard across the world. April 19, 2012, will long be remembered in the annals of India’s strategic weapons quest as the day on which India finally came of age in terms of missilery.

With the success of Agni V, Chander told his wildly cheering team, “India had joined the select club of nations with Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capabilities. Now we have the capability of developing and deploying missiles, anywhere, to any place in the world and at any time.”
“Most important the future will have intelligent warheads which are able to detect counter measures against them by the enemy and take evasive measures.”
Sensors aboard the RV??

There was a talk a while ago about the possibility of having conformal antennas on the 2nd and 3rd stages along with whole system packages included in the RV itself. This lets the missile take care of mid-course and final stage ABM defences.

Fidel Guevara · Post by **Fidel Guevara** » 25 Apr 2012 03:36

Dharma R wrote:
There was a talk a while ago about the possibility of having conformal antennas on the 2nd and 3rd stages along with whole system packages included in the RV itself. This lets the missile take care of mid-course and final stage ABM defences.

Dharma, during the atm reentry, the hot plasma that surrounds the warhead would hinder radar. A large ground target might still be visible, but a small airborne target like an ABM would likely not be detectable. So, real-time evasion might not be an option. Also, in the case of Topol-M type MARVs, the manouevring is not violent as a SSM in the final phase, it is far more gentle. Of course, at Mach 25, even gentle movements can misguide the enemy by tens of km..."is it going towards North Beijing or South?"

I think a MARV (plus penetration aids) really comes into its own against long-range exo-atmosphreric ABMs, not so much against point-defence endo-atmospheric stuff. And given a large enough warhead on the MARV, a point-defence ABM might be too late.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 25 Apr 2012 04:07

of course there exists a remote chance to hit the RV.. and the purpose would perhaps only reduce infrastructure destruction alone.. even a mid air interception within the atmosphere happens, the radiation effects remains for living creatures.

this is the whole point of ABMs.. and the MAD., and you see we don't want to be MAD till we have our ABMs ready to kill before reentry. mid-course kill is the best option for mother EARTH. For that, we need our extensive setup for launch detections and such satellite based radar setup.

the investment for launch detection needs to be large and quick reaction support. We need to detect within a minute of launch. onleee the khaaans have it now. let our drdo announce that we have established a world wide (err Europe-Africa-Asia-Aus] wide launche detection system, and claim a test detection happened and log them - send it to DDM.. See what happens to all the MAD guys.. the real bhairav will do a natraj in the space, while all will chaddi shiver.

That is when, chippanda will feel outdated - run away from aksai chin, tibet and pakis will wag their pigtails that they were never ever enemies to us.. just walk over and cleanse the himalayas later.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 25 Apr 2012 06:33

Pitching In

Pitching In

ONGC can claim to have made some important contribution in the test flight of Agni V missile last week. The longest range missile to have ever been fired by India, Agni V was required to be tracked by five ships during its flight. Given that the missile had to make a 20-minute journey, the Navy, which is already stretched for resources, decided against diverting its facilities for so long. The government then roped in the ONGC which has several ships routinely operating in the Indian Ocean region. Four ships of the company were retrofitted with missile tracking equipment while the Navy provided the fifth ship.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2012 06:54

this is going to make the chinese batnuts, having a "extention" of the IN prowling around in the seas of vietnam, close to their Sanya base ... heh heh heh.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 25 Apr 2012 07:11

Maybe every Indian ship is already equipped

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 25 Apr 2012 07:22

That is a tremendous idea arharya ji.. have all our ships with missile tracking system, and integrate it with naval cnc.

Misraji · Post by **Misraji** » 25 Apr 2012 07:22

abhishek_sharma wrote:Pitching In

Pitching In

ONGC can claim to have made some important contribution in the test flight of Agni V missile last week. The longest range missile to have ever been fired by India, Agni V was required to be tracked by five ships during its flight. Given that the missile had to make a 20-minute journey, the Navy, which is already stretched for resources, decided against diverting its facilities for so long. The government then roped in the ONGC which has several ships routinely operating in the Indian Ocean region. Four ships of the company were retrofitted with missile tracking equipment while the Navy provided the fifth ship.

Now why in God's name would we wanna openly admit that?

--Ashish

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 25 Apr 2012 07:24

Surya wrote:nah lets stop with these renaming.

Let it be Wheeler

one of the complexes or something coming up can be named after Kalam

I would rather it be renamed Kalam Island than Wheeler Island. Kalamji put it on the map and made it famous.

Gopalpur On Sea was a nearby port.

ONGC also contributed for tracking the bird. No harm in saying that. Anyways any Indian ship is fair game to Pakis masquerading as Somali pirates!

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 25 Apr 2012 07:27

WSJ:India Blows Past China's Smokescreen

India Blows Past China's Smokescreen
In its missile test, Delhi shows it knows not to trust Beijing—or rely on Washington.

By STEPHEN YATES
AND CHRISTIAN WHITON

Smart people and smart nations judge governments more on what they do than on what they say. India's successful test of an Agni-V long-range, nuclear-capable missile shows the shrewdness of the world's largest democracy. Delhi has looked past smokescreens from Beijing and Washington to judge hard realities.

In response to India's improved ability to deter China's own nuclear arsenal, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing said "India and China are not rivals but cooperative partners. We believe the two countries should cherish the hard-won momentum of sound bilateral relations."

But Delhi increasingly knows from Beijing's conduct that this is not so. China cooperates in Kashmir with Pakistan, which uses terrorists as instruments of statecraft against India. Many Indians are knowledgeable about the nature of China's government, having heard about it from some 150,000 Tibetans who have fled oppression to arrive in India, and who no longer have a country of their own.

Fidel Guevara · Post by **Fidel Guevara** » 25 Apr 2012 07:33

SaiK wrote:of course there exists a remote chance to hit the RV.. and the purpose would perhaps only reduce infrastructure destruction alone.. even a mid air interception within the atmosphere happens, the radiation effects remains for living creatures.

this is the whole point of ABMs.. and the MAD., and you see we don't want to be MAD till we have our ABMs ready to kill before reentry. mid-course kill is the best option for mother EARTH. For that, we need our extensive setup for launch detections and such satellite based radar setup.

the investment for launch detection needs to be large and quick reaction support. We need to detect within a minute of launch. onleee the khaaans have it now.

Yes, any ABM system effective against IRBM and above, is bound to be horrendously expensive...we could have a fully deployed road-mobile A5 force for 1/10 the cost of a partly-effective ABM system.

As long as we have the tracking system to know who fired a BM at us, and the ability to respond in kind, that should deter at least the Panda. Crazed Pakis are unpredictable, so maybe we HAVE to have some ABM capability against SRBM/MRBM-type threats from the West, regardless of cost.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 25 Apr 2012 07:39

Singha wrote:this is going to make the chinese batnuts, having a "extention" of the IN prowling around in the seas of vietnam, close to their Sanya base ... heh heh heh.

A page from their fishing trawlers, that have the support of Myanmar, SL, BD, ...?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2012 08:03

soviets also operated a lot of spy trawlers worldwide, fitted up to observe and snoop on american naval task forces.

Altair · Post by **Altair** » 25 Apr 2012 08:13

Singha wrote:soviets also operated a lot of spy trawlers worldwide, fitted up to observe and snoop on american naval task forces.

What would be the cost of additional equipment if we fit say 200 medium to big Non-IN ships/trawlers.
We need to plan the data network, operational cost etc..

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2012 09:11

we need a few more ocean survey ships. we have a few and ongc might use them as well . they have the gear to measure temperature, salinity, turbidity, currents, map the sea bed, manage UUV etc.....more the database we have more the ease and safety of submarine ops in such areas.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 25 Apr 2012 09:18

The earliest data collection for oceanography was done by merchant ships plying the oceans. Dedicated ships is a recent phenomenon as less than a hundred years for purposes of science. Though many ships on routine tracks are often fitted with instrumentation beyond the needs of the ships mission, but to help with data collection. Many cruise ships with fixed voyage patterns are used too.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 25 Apr 2012 10:10

Thanks Bade for putting things in perspective.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 25 Apr 2012 10:55

HMCS Endeavour is generally considered the first oceanographic mission and that was over 200 years ago.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2012 10:57

we have 9 survey ships on paper each of 2000t. 1 is with NPOL, rest with navy.

keshavchandra · Post by **keshavchandra** » 25 Apr 2012 11:27

Technical snag led BEL to short supply Akash to IAF

A technical snag encountered by a consortium partner has led to defence electronics major Bharat Electronics Limited short-supplying Akash Weapon System to the Indian Air Force in the last fiscal,a top official said today.

“Technical snag encountered by a consortium partner has led to BEL short-supplying Akash Weapon System, a medium-range surface-to-air missile system.Against supply of 96 missiles, we could receive only 15 missiles from one of our consortium partners,” BEL Chairman and Managing Director Anil Kumar said.

The short supply of the system to IAF, in turn, impacted both top and bottom lines of BEL whose revenue grew just by 3.3 per cent to Rs 5710 crore (provisional) in 2011-12 against Rs 5529.69 crore the previous year, he told reporters here.

But for now, the technical snag has been resolved and manufacturing of Akash Weapon System had begun and its supplies would be completed by December 2012, he said.

“BEL has obtained an order worth Rs 3125 crore for supply of Akash Weapon System to the Army,” he added.

He expressed confidence of meeting current year’s revenue target of Rs 6300 crore with an order book value of Rs 25748 crore as on March 31 as against Rs 23600 crore as on March 31, 2011. “During last fiscal fresh orders worth Rs 7000 crore were booked.”

BEL was eyeing a larger share of the Rs 16000 crore missile order of defence by extending the expertise it had gained in Akash Weapon System,he said.

Kumar said government rejecting an export order worth USD 6.5 million to Thales through its Indian subsidiary had resulted in a lower exports of USD 38.45 million as against USD 41.53 million in 2010-11.However, the current year would witness a better export performance as the company had already orders worth USD 60 million, he said.

Major orders BEL is executing included Rs 602 crore Coastal Surveillance System, a Rs 542 crore order for Social Economic and Caste Census for which it was supplying a rugged PC tablet, a ship borne ESM system order worth Rs 400 crore, ship-borne integrated electronic warfare System Rs 273 crore and Low level light weight radar Rs 222 crore.

My anti-virus reflecting some virus threat with the link, so not recommended to get it with this post.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 25 Apr 2012 12:46

First post is out with the E Book on Agni V and its implications for India.

BrijeshB · Post by **BrijeshB** » 25 Apr 2012 17:28

After Agni V, DRDO gets into Agni IV's 2nd trial

BALASORE: Jubilant over the spectacular success of India’s first Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Agni-V, the DRDO is readying for the second developmental trial of nuclear capable Agni-IV next month.
The missile, with a strike range up to 3,500 km, will be test-fired from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast any time between May 6 and 8, sources said. The trial will be followed by a series of tests of three other variants of Agni. After Agni-IV, the DRDO would carry out the fourth developmental test of 3,000 km range Agni-III missile, while the armed forces would conduct user trials of 2,000 km range Agni-II and 700 km range Agni-I in a sequel. However, the developmental trials of Agni-IV and Agni-III assume significance as the DRDO has planned to induct the latter in the armed forces next year and the former in 2014. DRDO chief V K Saraswat has said that by year-end, the organisation will go for another test of Agni-V missile, followed by the third one next year before inducting it in the armed forces in 2014.
“After that, the user trials of Agni-IV and Agni-V will be conducted,” he added. Defence experts said with the test-firing of 5,000 km range Agni-V, India has already enhanced its missile capability in the world. It would emerge as another missile power in the region after the induction of Agni-III, Agni-IV, Agni-V and submarine- launched K-15 missiles.
“The test marked the completion of an important milestone in India’s missile defence programme, in reaching the country’s goal of creating a credible deterrent in view of regional security threats. The missile can easily act as a deterrent to Chinese missiles,” they said. India’s arsenal is boosted by missiles such as three variants of Prithvi, ship-launched Dhanush, BrahMos cruise missile, Agni-I and Agni-II besides anti-tank Nag, Akash, Trishul and air-to-air Astra. This apart, new generation missiles like Sourya and Prahaar are under developmental trials. Defence sources said Agni-IV is a modified version of Agni-II prime strategic missile. It can carry 1,000 kg warhead with re-entry heat shield. The two-stage solid propelled missile is 20-m tall and weighs around 17 tonnes. While Agni-III can be launched from rail mobile launcher, Agni-IV can be fired from road mobile launcher which gives it more flexibility and wide range of operational success.
DRDO Chief Controller (Missiles and Strategic Systems) and Programme Director of AGNI Avinash Chander said though a series of tests has been planned, the exact date of trials has not been fixed. Agni-IV was tested for the first time on November 15 last year.

Being a developmental test, shall we expect A3 without a vented inter stage seperation in this upcoming test..?
If yes, then I think all our A3 arsenal would me modified (No ventd intrstage) to become more compact with this test

as they have mastered this particular technology with A5 success.
Also could A3 be carried with the same road mobile TELAR as that of A5 with this stuffing?

Kanson · Post by **Kanson** » 25 Apr 2012 17:51

Suraj wrote:Counterforce doctrines require sufficiently accurate and established deterrent capability. Nukes have only ever been used as a countervalue weapon, and their primary MAD potential was the threat of catastrophic countervalue destruction. India's relatively weaker deterrent would imply that NFU+countervalue retaliation is our position against PRC - effectively in response to their 'our deterrent is much more capable' statement, our statement is 'yes, but how many cities are you willing to lose when you use it ?'

1. There is a misplaced notion that CounterForce has to be only through N response. Pure Conventional option exists for such strike. In India, comments of ex- SFC guys dropped heavy hints in this direction. Conventional response is valid and part of steps in N war escalation.

2. Coming to the accuracy, our missile force has established sufficient accuracy to carryout CounterForce strike. In media we hear of near Zerro CEP as well as single digit accuracy for our missiles from Prithvi to Agni 3. Accuracy of Agni V is a classified information. Others will envy us if they come to know.

Further in coming days and months, we are only going to work on such systems to further increase the accuracy and dependability.

How it translates?

Size of the missiles with the adversaries is between 1 to 2 m dia or higher, enclosed in the silo of thickness much higher and its covering lid size further higher. For 2 m dia missile, we are talking about the lid size of 4- 6 m or higher. If Brahmos with Zero CEP can do a bunker buster role on these silos, it is an effective *Conventional* CounterForce strike weapon. Even less than 10kt yield is more that sufficient to destroy these silos as N response through other missiles with the accuracy we achieved taking into account all other adverse events that we may encounter.

Definitely India do have valid deterrent in these area. 10 kt test weapon success in PoK2 is accepted by everyone including many detractors.

3. >> Nukes have only ever been used as a countervalue weapon, and their primary MAD potential was the threat of catastrophic countervalue destruction.

That's becoz, in those days, accuracy of missiles is very less ( accuracy of Ghauri missile with Pak is few KMs) so Nuke has to be big so the collateral damage and more appealing to advertise as City busters as it can kill several thousand/millions of people. So we heard more about MAD potential.

Sub KT nukes are available now with India. If we want to formulate a N response we can do that in whichever fashion we like, from Sub-KT to several hundred KT.

CounterForce response is definitely possible for India. It is a reality.

PS: Weapon yield of Minuteman missile is chosen in accordance with the accuracy the missile it can achieve and the strength of the Soviet Silos it needs to destroy at that time. So CounterForce option was retained even with missile having MAD potential. (CEP of Minuteman is higher than that of Trident as per open source)

mody · Post by **mody** » 25 Apr 2012 18:18

BrijeshB wrote:After Agni V, DRDO gets into Agni IV's 2nd trial

BALASORE: Jubilant over the spectacular success of India’s first Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Agni-V, the DRDO is readying for the second developmental trial of nuclear capable Agni-IV next month.
The missile, with a strike range up to 3,500 km, will be test-fired from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast any time between May 6 and 8, sources said. The trial will be followed by a series of tests of three other variants of Agni. After Agni-IV, the DRDO would carry out the fourth developmental test of 3,000 km range Agni-III missile, while the armed forces would conduct user trials of 2,000 km range Agni-II and 700 km range Agni-I in a sequel. However, the developmental trials of Agni-IV and Agni-III assume significance as the DRDO has planned to induct the latter in the armed forces next year and the former in 2014. DRDO chief V K Saraswat has said that by year-end, the organisation will go for another test of Agni-V missile, followed by the third one next year before inducting it in the armed forces in 2014.
“After that, the user trials of Agni-IV and Agni-V will be conducted,” he added. Defence experts said with the test-firing of 5,000 km range Agni-V, India has already enhanced its missile capability in the world. It would emerge as another missile power in the region after the induction of Agni-III, Agni-IV, Agni-V and submarine- launched K-15 missiles.
“The test marked the completion of an important milestone in India’s missile defence programme, in reaching the country’s goal of creating a credible deterrent in view of regional security threats. The missile can easily act as a deterrent to Chinese missiles,” they said. India’s arsenal is boosted by missiles such as three variants of Prithvi, ship-launched Dhanush, BrahMos cruise missile, Agni-I and Agni-II besides anti-tank Nag, Akash, Trishul and air-to-air Astra. This apart, new generation missiles like Sourya and Prahaar are under developmental trials. Defence sources said Agni-IV is a modified version of Agni-II prime strategic missile. It can carry 1,000 kg warhead with re-entry heat shield. The two-stage solid propelled missile is 20-m tall and weighs around 17 tonnes. While Agni-III can be launched from rail mobile launcher, Agni-IV can be fired from road mobile launcher which gives it more flexibility and wide range of operational success.
DRDO Chief Controller (Missiles and Strategic Systems) and Programme Director of AGNI Avinash Chander said though a series of tests has been planned, the exact date of trials has not been fixed. Agni-IV was tested for the first time on November 15 last year.
Being a developmental test, shall we expect A3 without a vented inter stage seperation in this upcoming test..?
If yes, then I think all our A3 arsenal would me modified (No ventd intrstage) to become more compact with this test as they have mastered this particular technology with A5 success.
Also could A3 be carried with the same road mobile TELAR as that of A5 with this stuffing?

If Agni - III is tested with the same config as before, it would surely mean that they are trying to test some other technologies rather then doing the testing the field the missile. The A-IV, at 20 mtrs tall and 17 ton, as opposed to 17 mtrs and 48 tons for the Agni - III are stated to have the same range. Also the difference in weight between the A-III and A-V is only 1 ton, as the A-V uses the composite motor. Hence common sense would dictate that A-III has been superseded by A-IV and A-V combo.
However, if they are still going to conduct a "Developmental" Test, then it should surely incorporate the technologies obtained via the A-IV and A-V missile tests.
On the other hand if the missile is already deployed in small numbers, then it could be a validation test from a production batch.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2012 19:09

regardless of all these counterforce arguments the fact remains there is no way anyone can track 100s of mobile TELARs for DF21 and DF31 over a vast landmess the size of china.

and to what end? we get all our cities smacked to the ground and in return under NFU, we take out a few chinese command posts and nuclear launchers? How dharmic and exactly what uncle ordered