Agni V Missile

[Godless-Kafir]

Is this before re-entry or after re-rentry?

It is definitely before Re-entry in most missile. However Indian scientists have their own way of looking at things.

As far as other ICBMs go they follow this pattern below.

 

[pmaitra]

Ok got it:

So each warhead has its own heat shield. Interesting!

 

[pmaitra]

Ha ha, you beat my by a second GK. Good show.

 

[sonofindia]

Congratulations to fellow Indians...the democratic people who believe in peaceful coexistence, for this great accomplishment . India should tell the World that 1.2 billion people can not be threatened by any power..be it be China or United States. Nobody will be allowed to use Pakistan against India as India will be too powerful to be bullied by any major power. India should maintain its policy of peaceful coexistence with China as well as United States and work towards betterment of all humanity. No to make anyone scared and not to be scared of anyone. JAI HIND.

 

[Yusuf]

Not the one that launched..

Yes not the one that's launched but one they will make.

 

[Yusuf]

Congratulations to fellow Indians...the democratic people who believe in peaceful coexistence, for this great accomplishment . India should tell the World that 1.2 billion people can not be threatened by any power..be it be China or United States. Nobody will be allowed to use Pakistan against India as India will be too powerful to be bullied by any major power. India should maintain its policy of peaceful coexistence with China as well as United States and work towards betterment of all humanity. No to make anyone scared and not to be scared of anyone. JAI HIND.

Jai hind

 

[KS]

Faux News..

 

[Yusuf]

Faux News..

Sacrificing china ????

 

[Yusuf]

The caption of this piece should actually read "mission accomplished" but for the bloomer President George Bush made in 2003 when he claimed victory well before the skirmishes in Iraq died down! But the missile story is really one of accomplishment of a mission that DRDO embarked three decades back.
In 1982, DRDO embarked on a major transformation transitioning from working on minor innovations that brought in no recognition, to major hardware development. A portfolio of missiles, Light Combat Aircraft, main battle tanks are the products of this transformation. There were also a few more top secret projects. It was an audacious move when we were not even sure whether we had the competence and wherewithal to execute the programmes. But then we recognized that if we did not cash in on the opportunity that the political leadership, most notably the defence minister Venkataraman and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, provided we would have lost a window of opportunity to become a self reliant nation in military technologies.
We took our proposals to Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) for the sanction. For the missile programme, we chose four projects, two surface-to-air (Trishul, Akash) missiles, one a short range tactical missile (Prithvi) and the last one was an anti-tank missile (Nag). We took a deliberate decision not to propose a long range missile as a hardware project. Instead, it was going to be a technology demonstrator where we would develop a number of technologies that go into the making of ICBM. When Mrs Gandhi was curious to find out what technologies we were not confident of, I replied, "every subsystem"! She smiled saying that she was happy to hear at least once, an acceptance of ignorance, but wanted us to build the advanced systems that could stand in competition with other countries hardware. She said that she was tired of buying military systems from other countries that were not willing to either sell state-of-the-art systems or share the technology know-how.
Even before that approval we were quietly circulating photographs of long range missile models to people at South Block. The photographs of the models were impressive and I suspect either Arun Singh or Rajiv Gandhi had seen the designs and photographs and briefed the Prime Minister of our audacious aspirations!
Our programmes began in the frostiest years of Cold War. Even the import of desk-top computers with some special features invited export clearances and bureaucratic oversight. Quoted products suddenly vanished from supply. Attendance at technical conferences was denied. But we persisted forming a consortium approach where all the nation's laboratories and industries became our technology partners. With the firing of Agni V, DRDO has arrived developing all the technologies, the wish that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressed many years ago.
A guided missile is a conglomerate of thousands of complex technologies. Complex technologies are primed to perform a well defined activity efficiently and reliably. Unfortunately, if they fall short of performance, the results can be failures, often with unacceptable consequences. Reliability is therefore all too critical. In Agni V we used solid propellant in all three stages and with a guidance system using ring lasers along with strap down inertial navigation system. Ring laser gyro is considered most efficient and accurate for detecting angular rotation and enables stabilisation. It was used even during the testing of Agni III, but this time it provided the extra redundancy that has enabled the accuracy of trajectory and stability of the guidance system. The terminal system used carbon-carbon compositesfor the structure that could withstand the burning reentry temperatures keeping the payload cool. In addition to very high temperatures, the missile in its terminal phase would experience very high acceleration due to free fall known as the g force that can break any poorly built system. The results of the Agni V tests show that while impacting at the designated area, the missile successfully withstood both the re-entry temperatures and very high g.
Summing up, Agni V has proved and validated solid propulsion system, stage separation, accurate guidance and met the range requirements Actually, we have done slightly better than China in the sense that some of Chinese ICBMs (DF-5) for instance, are reported to be liquid fueled with its attendant disadvantages.
Why have we taken so much time? I can cite many reasons. But a persuasive one is the time it took us to learn the tricks of the trade with no past to educate us through. And the investments we have made in all these technology are modest, and of course the number of organisations is also few. Now we have learned how to develop and build new systems faster than in the past. But by delaying the sanction of new projects, I fear we will lose the corporate memory and the experiences of precious human resource. It is this human resource that has brought us this far. And the country salutes them for the competence and commitment it brought into the programme. DRDO may fire a few more missiles to prove their reliability in performance. When it comes to strategic systems it is not necessary to manufacture hundreds. A handful will do as they carry nuclear weapons that can inflict unacceptable damage on adversaries.
The Chinese press does not appear to like India's missile tests. The Global Times warned India against overestimating its strength. Actually the newspaper seems to underestimate the lethality of nuclear weapons. Even a single 10 kilo ton bomb, within 0.8 km radius of a city would completely wipe out the population in that area. In a medium city with a population of a few lakhs, about 50,000 people would die with unacceptable radiation inflicted injuries. Strategic deterrence that would prevent unilateral nuclear attacks is therefore necessary. With a successful test, Agni V has ensured this security for India.


http://www.asianage.com/india/agni-story-mrs-g-s-wish-fulfilled-india-s-missile-man-036

 

[pmaitra]

Defence Line - Agni-5, A Game-changer?

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Australian gentleseas blog clarification and revision to my AGNI MIRV question. Thanks buddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A-US ComIntel: Latest news of Agni V test - India's Next Stage [revised]

MIRV? - See this page on Defence Forum of India . On this page 19-04-12 08:56 PM LethalForce has reproduced my Agni V post as it stood on 19 April before I revised it. At 19-04-12 09:07 PM LethalForce asked "Australian article says it is a 3 warhead MIRV? anyone have conformation of this? " . My point is I anticipated MIRV was an outstanding issue because at that time Indian authorities had not mentioned it in connection with this Agni V test. MIRV as it applied to Indian missiles first appeared on me blog in January 2008 then MIRV on navalised Agni III SL February 2011. Several hours later DRDO chief V K Saraswat appeared to respond to the MIRV issue ""We go from here to many other missiles which will have capability for MIRV..., for anti-satellite system, ..."

special thanks to Sayareakd for forwarding

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Indian missile pride hides strategic flaws: analysts


Indian missile pride hides strategic flaws

India's pride at the successful test of a long-range, nuclear-capable missile hides weaknesses in strategic military planning that undermine its global power aspirations, analysts say.

Thursday's launch of the Agni V, which has a range of 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles) and can carry a one-tonne nuclear payload, triggered a round of intense, patriotic self-congratulation.

"This launch has given a message to the entire world that India has the capability to design, develop, build and manufacture missiles of this class," said V.K. Saraswat, head of the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation.

"We are today a missile power," Saraswat announced.

The sense of achievement was not unfounded.

The Agni V is more than 80 percent indigenously developed, and with a range extending across the whole of China and beyond, it holds the potential to significantly upgrade India's military deterrent.

"It has been termed a game changer, and in many ways it is a game changer. It covers the whole of China which was not the case before," said strategic missile expert P.K. Ghosh.

But while acknowledging the technological achievement, a number of analysts noted it was just a tiny step towards achieving any military parity with its giant regional rival.

"We are still way behind China. In terms of missile numbers, range and quality, they are way ahead of us," said C. Raja Mohan, a security analyst and senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research, a policy think-tank in Delhi.

Mohan also argued that there was too much focus on "demonstration" launches, which only proved that India's missile policy was led by the scientific community rather than the government and military bureaucracy.

"We can all wrap ourselves in the flag today, but there's a dearth of real strategy on how to actually deploy missile technology," he said.

The Agni V remains some way from actually being inducted into the armed forces.

Experts said it would require four or five more tests to confirm its flight path, accuracy and overall competence, before production could actually begin.

Rahul Bedi, a consultant with global security analysts IHS Jane's, said India's political leadership had failed to capitalise on the technological breakthroughs of its scientists.

"India's nuclear deterrence lacks political foresight and understanding of its employment primarily because of the politicians' limited understanding of strategic matters," Bedi said.

"The euphoria over Agni V's success will abate fast if not followed by firming up this dissuasive deterrence capability that has only been demonstrated today, not confirmed," he added.

Agni, which means "fire" in Sanskrit, is the name given to a series of rockets India developed as part of its ambitious integrated guided missile development project launched in 1983.

While the shorter-range Agnis I and II were mainly developed with traditional rival Pakistan in mind, later versions with a range of 3,500 kilometres are perceived as China-centric deterrents.

India and China, each with a population of more than one billion, have prickly relations and a legacy of mistrust that stems from a brief but bloody border war in 1962.

The Chinese foreign ministry said Thursday it had taken note of the Agni launch, and downplayed any sense of rivalry between the neighbours.

"China and India are both big emerging countries. We are not rivals but cooperation partners," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters.

After the successful test, much was made of the fact that the Agni V could eventually push India into the league of countries with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

But K. Santhanam, one of the military scientists behind India's 1998 nuclear tests, questioned the strategic motivation behind extending the country's missile strike range even further.

"The Agni V has strategic relevance, but how far do you want to go? Do you want to go to Washington DC?," Santhanam told AFP.

"We don't need ICBMs because we are at most a regional power and they wouldn't fit into any coherent strategy given the current security scenario," he added.

 

[Yusuf]

Rajamohan has lost his bearings recently.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India’s missile thrust

India's missile thrust



India launches first intercontinental ballistic missile. True enough, India did launch a new, 5,000 km-ranged Agni-V missile that can deliver a nuclear warhead to Beijing and Shanghai.
Previously, India's 3,500-km Agni-III did not have the range to hit China's major coastal cities.

But Agni-V is not an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), as wrongly reported. Nor was the missile North Korea launched on April 15 that fell apart soon after liftoff. Some media wrongly claimed it was an ICBM that could hit the United States. One longs for the days when media employed real war correspondents who understood military affairs.

A true ICBM has a minimum range of at least 8,000km and more likely 12,000km. India and North Korea's missiles were medium ranged ballistic missiles (MRBM's). The difference is important because MRBM's are theatre weapons while ICBM's threaten the entire globe. India crowed with pride over its Agni-V launch. One government scientist claimed Agni-V made India "a major missile power." By contrast, India's growing rival, China, dismissed the launch with a disdainful sniff.

But, as this column has been writing for years, India is indeed emerging as a major military power.

In 1999, this writer's book, War at the Top of the World, began examining the growth of India's military and postulated that India and China would one day go to war over their ill-defined Himalayan border and Burma.

Today, India has become the world's largest importer of arms. India's navy is to deploy three aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines with ballistic missiles, a powerful air force, and armed forces of 1.3 million. India has long land and maritime frontiers and needs large, well-equipped military forces.

Why India, a nation of deep poverty, needs a missile that can deliver nuclear warheads to New York or Paris, remains a mystery. The most likely reason is prestige and a seat on the UN Security Council. But there is also the possibility that one day India may confront the United States over Mideast oil, or confront Russia and China in Central Asia.

India's deliverable nuclear arsenal, like those of all other nations, is designed for strategic deterrence – a national life insurance policy. Delhi has masked development of an ICBM behind its space launch programme. As Washington tartly noted last week about North Korea's attempt to put a satellite into orbit, a booster that can place a satellite in orbit can just as well deliver a nuclear warhead. The same applies to India. For now, India is a close US ally, and the recipient of the US and Israeli help in building its nuclear arsenal.

India's purported ICBM is named "Surya" and is believed to have a planned range of 12,000km. The missile is said to be composed of the main stage of its PSLV space launcher and Agni-V. Its development remains shrouded in secrecy. The programme has had many failures and misfires. The third maritime leg of India's nuclear triad provides a secure second-strike capability after a surprise nuclear attack. But is also gives India the ability to attack most of the world' capitols from the sea.

Eric Margolis is a veteran US journalist

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://www.firstpost.com/world/agni-v-is-russia-torn-between-india-and-china-284286.html


Agni-V: Is Russia torn between India and China?

Perusing the front pages of Delhi newspapers, one gets the impression that the launch of the Agni-V intercontinental missile with a striking range of 5,000 km by India was a prominent but by no means sensational event even for Indians. There have been no overly emotional responses to it outside India either. One can't help drawing a parallel between this calm reaction and the media frenzy surrounding the failed launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea just a week ago. And when something of the kind happens in Iran, the reaction is even stronger.

Former US president Ronald Reagan once commented on the right to bear arms in America with the memorable phrase, "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." The international games surrounding nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles illustrate the point nicely.

On May 11, 1998, India held underground nuclear tests in an attempt to outdo Pakistan, which also planned (and successfully conducted) such tests a few days later. And with that two more nuclear powers were born. Like many other countries, Russia condemned the new nuclear powers for ignoring the universally accepted ban on expanding the nuclear club. Back then, many commentators, observing Russia's harsh reaction to these developments, rightly noted that no one feared France's nuclear arsenal, because France is a country that gave the world Dumas, Moliere, cheese and wine. It simply has no reason to use its nuclear weapons against Russia or any other country for that matter.

The same reasoning was applied to India: Our friend has become stronger, so it is good news not bad.

This is also why Moscow, Beijing and Tokyo react differently to missile tests in North Korea. The first two countries don't want any trouble just because the Japanese and Americans are afraid of the North Koreans. However, Pyongyang is very unlikely to fire a missile at China or Russia.

In other words, the intentions and interests of superpowers are more important in strategic planning than their capabilities. What are the intentions of Russia's friend India, which has increased the striking range of its nuclear arms delivery vehicles?

Russian President Medvedev shakes hands with China's President Hu Jintao during their meeting at the BRICS summit in New Delhi. ReutersThe most obvious answer is that this is bad news primarily for China, which is, by the way, Russia's friend, too. Indeed, there's no reason for India to aim its nuclear weapons against Africa or the United States, all the more so since Agni can't reach U.S. shores anyway. However, all of China's territory is now within reach.
For several years now, various political forces in India have been saying officially (and especially in private) that Indians aren't dumb enough to turn their country into a missile base against China just because, for example, the US wants it to be this way. Both major Indian parties agree on that.

Pakistan, whose government is either unwilling or unable to control the jihadist groups residing on its territory, remains India's primary threat. Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is not the only concern here. The philosophy underlying the establishment of Pakistan as a Muslim alternative to Hindu India is another major consideration. It's not clear what this nation will become without this idea, and whether Pakistan will remain a nation without it.

This is not all there is to it. Jihadism is not only about Pakistan. Let's not forget that in addition to nuclear tests in 1998, India stepped up its political involvement in the Middle East and became very close with Israel. Today, with the Gulf monarchies successfully promoting the jihad philosophy across all Arab nations, such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya to name a few, it has become clear that India's policy was quite reasonable and the expansion of its missile range won't hurt either.

Next comes Iran. The Indian opposition strongly criticises its current government for its incoherent policy towards Iran. However, the real threat to India doesn't come from Iran. Hypothetically, if the US or the Gulf monarchies manage to sow the seeds of chaos in Iran as well, then, in the worst case scenario, extremist regimes will spring up from neighbouring Pakistan westward all the way to the shores of the Atlantic.

This is something that China would like to avoid as well because it has more shared strategic interests with India than with its old friend Pakistan.

It is assumed that India's failed war against China in 1962 and the loss of an uninhabited glacier in the Himalayas are a major problem that makes these two key international partners of Russia bitter enemies. If this were the case, then the launch of the Agni would spell real drama for Russian foreign policy.

Let's keep in mind that Russia is India's key partner in the area of armaments. This month Russia supplied to India the nuclear submarine Nerpa aka Chakra on a long-term lease. By late 2012, India will at long last receive the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov aka Vikramaditya. There's a whole list of armaments that Russia is either selling to India or designing together with India. If Beijing viewed India similar to the way Japan looks upon North Korea"¦ And if India saw China – which, by the way, became Delhi's first trading partner – as a source of permanent threat"¦

Things are different in reality, though. The foreign ministers of Russia, India and China (RIC) met this month. As it turns out, the original triangle of this group exists as a separate entity despite its expansion to include Brazil and South Africa (BRICS). And the three have more and more reasons for private meetings. Among other things, an important topic for discussion is coordinating efforts in Afghanistan once the US and NATO forces withdraw. The problem is that the spread of jihad policies in Afghanistan represents a direct threat to northwestern China. As a result, Beijing and Delhi now have more reasons for rapprochement and Moscow has long been a willing intermediary.

As for nuclear arsenals and their delivery vehicles, even with an enhanced strike range, they do not interfere with such efforts. On the contrary, they are a source of calm for the partners in their complicated relations with each other.

(Dmitry Kosyrev is RIA Novosti's political commentator. The views expressed are the author's and may not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti)

 

[Godless-Kafir]

Ha ha, you beat my by a second GK. Good show.

I posted the same thing 3days back during launch. I thought you may have seen it back then itself, that is why i was wondering why you would ask the same question again!!

 

[nitesh]

India all set to develop reusable rockets: DRDO - India News - IBNLive

New Delhi: After the successful launch of Agni-V Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), India is all set to develop reusable rockets which will combine the technologies of both ballistic and cruise missiles.

As part of plans to develop reusable ballistic missiles, Defence Research and Development Organisation will test indigenously developed scram jet engine next year, DRDO Chief VK Saraswat said in an interview to Doordarshan.

"We have propulsion technology, we have re-entry technologies, we have the technology which can take a re-entry system which will deliver a payload and have yet another re-entry system which will bring the missile back when it re-enters the atmosphere on its return journey," he said.

"We have demonstrated the performance of a scram jet engine operating at Mach six speed (six times the speed of sound)," he said.

On the range of Agni-V missile which was successfully test-fired recently off Odisha coast, the DRDO chief said with moderate modifications, "it can be extended to any range which is of our interest."

On technological capability available with the agency, he said, "DRDO has built the necessary technologies, production infrastructure and design capability for developing a booster or a sustainer... We have the capability to develop a re-entry nose cone which can withstand higher temperature and velocity."

Reacting to reports that India does not possess sufficient indigenous technology for missile guidance systems, Saraswat said Agni-V has used a completely indigenous and high precision missile guidance system with "0.001 degrees of per hour accuracy."

On criticism that DRDO sometimes does not live up to expectations, he said the agency was as good as its counterparts in advanced countries.

"Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), F-18 and Eurofighter took similar number of years and cost wise they were three times more than what we have put in our LCA," he said.

On development of Kaveri engine, Saraswat said it too has performed well and was, "flown an IL-76 aircraft in Russia, 55 hours of successful flight... We are going to upgrade it so that it can be used in India's LCA Mark-II and future systems."

 

[Blackwater]

"The Hindu God of Fire" - Fox news reports on Agni-V

 

[sayareakd]

just imagine we have re usable missile test, it will sleepless night to our enemies.

 

[Dovah]

"The Hindu God of Fire" - Fox news reports on Agni-V

They're implying we intend to hit Iran with A5. Not true.