BY: HINDU

Even as Agni-III, the 3,500 km range ballistic missile, is getting operational, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has begun work on Agni-IV, a 5,000 km range missile, to provide “enough capability” for a credible deterrence to the country.

“Work on the 5,000 km range missile is on and the first trial is expected to take place in early 2009,” said V.K. Saraswat, Chief Controller, R&D (Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO.

New features

Talking to The Hindu here on Wednesday, he said Agni-IV would have many new features, including anti-ballistic counter measures and rocket motor systems with composite materials to improve the thrust-to-weight ratio. It would be equ ipped with stealth technology and be more accurate than those currently available in market with improved mobility and higher energy.

Maintaining that Agni-IV was not an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile but a long range one, he said Agni-III and Agni-IV were the building blocks for missiles with longer reach.

Pointing out that all the major technologies for long range missiles had been realised following the successful flight test of Agni-III in April this year, he mentioned some of them as high-power booster, multi-stage vehicles, good re-entry know-how which could sustain aero-thermal loads at very high Mach numbers and a potent navigation system to maintain accuracy throughout the flight path.
Security requirement

Asked about the need for a 5,000 range missile, Dr. Saraswat said “when our threat perception is deeply analysed, we feel that ranges from 2,000 km to 5,000 km will give enough capability to have credible deterrence.”

Stating that long range missiles were designed on the basis of the country’s security requirement to counter existing or emerging threats, he said the need might arise for a 10,000 km missile in future.

He said Agni-III’s deployment was proceeding concurrently and only the system’s repeatability and reliability would be tested in future trials without major technological changes.

The DRDO has also started a technology development project for building a “long endurance,” long range cruise missile that will fly at high subsonic speeds. The advantage of subsonic cruise missiles was that they would enable delivery of payload at low cost. Because they fly at low altitude such missiles would be difficult to be detected by enemy radars.