E-Paper
Agni I tested, ready for induction
India test-fired the 700-km, nuclear capable Agni-I medium range ballistic missile for the third time on Sunday. After the successful flight test from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) declared the single stage, solid-fuelled Agni-I ready for induction into the Army.
India test-fired the 700-km, nuclear capable Agni-I medium range ballistic missile for the third time on Sunday. After the successful flight test from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) declared the single stage, solid-fuelled Agni-I ready for induction into the Army.
The test firing was described as a "user (Army) associated launch" involving an Army missile group. It was witnessed by Director-General of Military Operations Lt. General A.S. Bahia along with DRDO chief V.K. Aatre.
The Agni-I addresses the missile gap between the 250-km range Prithvi-II and the 2,500-km Agni-II missiles. In the Pakistan-specific Agni-I, India will have a tactical missile which can be safely deployed far away from pre-emptive strike zones and activated without lowering the nuclear threshold.
Pakistan already has the Chinese-made M-9 (Shaheen-I) missiles in the 800 km range inducted in its armoury.
Following the Kargil conflict, it was felt that forward deployment of the Prithvi short-range ballistic missiles, even with conventional warheads, would provoke Islamabad to launch a pre-emptive strike as it would perceive the Prithvis as nuclear armed.
This meant that Prithvi’s deployment would lower the nuclear threshold, especially since movement of short-range missile batteries to launch points could be easily detected by the adversary.
On Sunday, Aatre said that the "prime mission objective of the third serial flight of the Agni-I was to reconfirm the technical parameters set for this user associated launch".
All objectives had been met, he declared, indicating that the development phase of the Agni-I had ended and that the missile would now be serially produced by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Dynamics Limited.
The DRDO is now reportedly bracing itself for a bigger test-firing — the 3500-km Agni-III. The launch of the Agni-III has been on the cards since 2003. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently hinted that this missile would be tested this year.
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Filling the missile gap
SPECIFICS Agni I is nuclear capable, 700-km medium range ballistic missile
NECESSITY Addresses missile gap between 250-km range Prithvi-II and 2,500-km Agni-II missiles
QUIET Can be safely deployed far away from pre-emptive strike zones
NO WORRY Pakistan says it’s ‘not concerned’. “It is a nation’s sovereign right to take steps for defence”
