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India to develop ICBM with 5,500-km range in three years: DRDO

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, April 14, IRNA
India-DRDO-ICBM
With the successful launch of the nuclear -capable Agni-III, India has achieved the capability to develop an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) to strike at targets 5,500 km away within the next two to three years, top defense scientists said.

"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," Defense Research and Development Organization chief M Natarajan said here, a private Indian news channel 'Zeenews' reported.

"DRDO scientists are working on miniaturizing the systems of the Agni-III so that a third stage can be squeezed into the 16-meter-long missile to enable it to go up to 5,500 km with the same 1.5-ton 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 defense system set for August or October.

The organization 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.

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