Scientists now brace up for Agni tests in Jan

After the twin failures of India’s first long range missile Agni-II, the successful trial of nuke-capable surface-to-surface Dhanush missile came as a face saver for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Now the organisation is eyeing the success of the two proposed tests of Agni-II and Agni-III missiles in January.Dhanush, Naval version of Prithvi ballistic missile, was flight tested by the Indian Navy from the warship INS Subhadra, 35 km away from Balasore coast yesterday.With the test, India has joined the elite club of US and China which have the similar kind of missiles in their arsenal.Defence sources said, the missile travelled almost 350 km within nearly 500 seconds before zeroing in on the target with a circular error probability (CEP) of less than 10 metres.“It met the velocity, height and guidance parameters. The flight path was very smooth without any variation and deviation”, said ITR director SP Dash.The pre-decided coordinates – elevation, trajectory and azimuth were also well as expected and the missile splashed down at the target point with pinpoint accuracy, added Dash.Buoyed by the success, the DRDO scientists are now planning a fresh trial of the 2000-km plus range Agni-II missile. The trial will be conducted by the Indian Army.Earlier, in May and November the missile trials conducted by the Army had failed to deliver desired results.In the last test the missile developed a technical snag during the ignition of the second stage and its flex nozzle did not function properly.Sources said, the user trial will be followed by a developmental trial of the country’s longest 3500-km range missile Agni-III.Agni-III, which has a velocity of five km per second, is a short and stubby, two-stage missile that weighs 48.3 tonnes and is 16.7 metres tall with an overall diameter of 1.8 meters. It can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads weighing around 1.5 tonnes.It will be propelled by solid fuels, facilitating swifter deployment compared to missiles using a mix of solid and liquid fuels.“Agni-II has already been inducted in the armed forces. Even though the Agni-III is said to be ready for induction but still it will require two or three more tests before it can go for limited series production (LSP) trials by the armed forces. However, two years more will be required for its operational deployment,” the sources added.