Indian armed forces woefully short of equipment: report

India test fires Agni III missile
Sampad Mahapatra/Nitin Gokhale

Sunday, July 9, 2006: (Bhubaneshwar)

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Range : 3,500 Kms+
Has the capability to strike upto Beijing and Shanghai.
TV channels are reporting that it may have MIRV capability.
At least 12 more tests may be required for it to be fully operational.

Agni-III flight unsuccessful
Y. Mallikarjun

July 10, 2006.

HYDERABAD: The maiden flight of Agni-III, India's most powerful and advanced long-range ballistic missile, from Wheeler Island, off the Orissa coast, on Sunday was unsuccessful.

Although the lift-off at 11.03 a.m. was smooth, the two-stage missile crashed into the sea after climbing to a height of 12 km. Official sources attributed the failure of the flight to the non-separation of the first stage from the second stage.

"The launch did not meet all the mission requirements," the sources said. A "design failure" is said to be the reason behind the non-separation of the first stage. Both the stages are powered by solid propellants.

The countdown for the launch of the surface-to-surface missile, with a range of 3,500 km, went off smoothly at the Integrated Test Range of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). "Around the separation time, there was a problem. It appears that the separation did not take place normally," the sources said. So the vehicle tumbled into the sea.

"We have to analyse the data. By tomorrow, we will know what went wrong. We will take corrective measures for the next flight," the sources added.

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Rahul Datta | New Delhi

The Government has given the go-ahead to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists to conduct at least two tests of the Agni-III intermediate range ballistic missile in late August.

The nod for the two tests, likely to be conducted in quick succession at a gap of two or three days, came on Wednesday when the DRDO brass met Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The Minister was also apprised of the plausible cause of the snag which afflicted the maiden test firing of the missile on Sunday last, sources said here on Thursday.

The scientists said they were ready for further tests of the missile capable of hitting a target at a distance of 3,500 kms and with the capacity to carry conventional and nuclear warheads up to one tonne. .....

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The DRDO also briefed the Minister about the plausible cause of the snag and assured him that they would be able to rectify the snags for the forthcoming launches. The tests would be two-stage even as the DRDO was ready with a three-stage missile test, sources said.

The cause of the snag as reported to the Minister was that the Sunday test was carried for the two-stage missile with a booster but without changing the composition of the propellant.

It means that the propellant used for this test was similar to that used for Agni-II which has a range of hitting a target at 2,000 kms.

However, if the objective is to hit a target beyond 2,000 kms, the chemical specifications of the solid fuel propellant have to be changed to give additional thrust to the missile, they said.

Explaining further, they said the Agni-III, most probably, developed a snag as the booster of the missile, used to ignite the missile was not compatible with the second stage of hitting the target. This phenomenon occurred due to design failure as the diameter of the missile was increased to store more propellant without changing its composition technically known as specific impulse composition, sources said.

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Indian Army Arjun MBTs begin production

Ben Vogel Editor of Janes.com

The report is subscribed. It was posted by member Vick at Bharat-rakshak forums.

Summary is as follows :-

Arjun main battle tank (MBT) has passed evaluation with the Indian Army and production is finally underway, the defence minister has stated in a reply to a Parliamentary committe.

'Production hiccups have been overcome and [the] first lot of production is in progress,' Pranab Mukherjee told the Indian defence ministry's consultative committee on 12 July.

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The statement attributed to Mr. Mukherjee, has been acquired by JDW from the following source :

India successfully test-fires Trishul
Press Trust Of India
Posted Sunday , July 23, 2006 at 17:08

Balasore: The country's most sophisticated short-range surface-to-air missile Trishul was test-fired on Sunday, defence sources said.

The missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-Sea, about 15 km from Balasore, at about 1150 hrs IST.

Trishul was targeted at a micro-light aircraft.

Powered by a two-stage solid propellant engine, the missile was fired over a range of nine kilometres.

The range of the missile, indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), could be enhanced after the completion of trials, the sources said.

Trishul, about three metres in length and two metres in diameter, flies at supersonic speed and is capable of carrying a 15-kg payload.

The missile has a triple battlefield role for the army, air force and navy and can engage targets like aircraft and helicopters by using its radar command-to-line-of-sight guidance.

With high manoeuvrability, the missile has earlier been flight tested in a sea-skimming role and against moving targets.

The naval version of Trishul, part of the integrated guided missile development programme, has a sensitive radar-altimeter and height lock-loop control while the army variant, called the Trishul Combat Vehicle (TCV) system, is based on a tracked BMP-1 infantry combat vehicle and houses equipment like radars, command-guidance system and missiles, the sources said.

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