By: Outlook

With the successful launch of the nuclear-capable Agni-III, India has achieved the capability to develop an inter-continental ballistic missile to strike at targets 5,500 km away within the next two to three years, top defence scientists said today.

"We have achieved the capability to make missiles with a range of 3,500 km to 5,500 km but the decision (to develop an ICBM) has to be taken by the political leadership," Defence Research and Development Organisation chief M Natarajan said here.

"DRDO scientists are working on miniaturising the systems of the Agni-III so that a third stage can be squeezed into the 16-metre-long missile to enable it to go up to 5,500 km with the same 1.5-tonne payload," Natarajan said a day after the first successful launch of the 3,000-km Agni-III.

Agni-III will also be converted into a submarine-launched ballistic missile to open more second-strike options for the country, DRDO scientists told reporters during a briefing.

Pointing out that Agni-III had been tested to almost its full range of 3,000 km, mission director Avinash Chander said the missile would become "fully operational" after two to three more launches to be carried out in the next three years.

DRDO has drawn up a busy schedule of tests for its diverse range of indigenous missiles, with the second test of its missile defence system set for August or October. The organisation is also planning user trials for its surface-to-air Akash missile and fourth generation anti-tank Nag missile.

Chander said Agni-I, with a range of 700 km, had already been inducted into the army while the country's first fully solid-state missile, the 2,000-km Agni-II, is currently being inducted.

Asked whether the proposed ICBM would be christened Surya, Natarajan said it be given a name derived from the Agni series.

For the first time, Chander said, DRDO had acted only as an integrating agency with the Agni-III, with most of the missile's components being made by private industry. A total of 258 private firms and 20 DRDO laboratories were involved in this venture.

"This is why there were no production delays and the next missile is being readied in parallel," he said.

"Agni-III is the first Indian missile to have crossed the equator," said Chander, adding that the detonation of the missile's warhead had been recorded and would be analysed.

Asked how much composite material had been used in the missile, he said: "Left to me, I would like to make it an all-composite missile as the use of more carbon-composites can make Agni-III lighter to increase its payload and range."

Sounding a word of caution, Natarajan said that there were "constraints" in manufacturing the Agni missiles in large numbers. The number to be made would be decided in consultation with the armed forces, he said.

The DRDO chief said his organisation had also faced a lot of constraints in rectifying faults that had led to the failure of the Agni-III's first test last year as the country lacked adequate ground test facilities for checking critical missile components.

Chander said some of the firsts established by yesrterday's launch included a "flex nozzle control" for the rocket motor, a specially developed composite propellant, a guidance and control system with "built-in fault tolerant avionics" and systems to withstand the "severe aero-thermal environment" experienced during re-entry.