Mighty India Power

India has successfully conducted its first night-trial of nuclear-capable Agni-II intermediate range ballistic missile from Wheeler island off Orissa coast. It had been decided to test the nuclear capable Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) for the first time during night, defence officials had said in Balasore on Sunday. "Range integration work in Integrated Test Range (ITR) for the proposed trial has been completed and if final check-up in the sub-system of the missile is found flawless, the mission will be taken up tomorrow," the officials had said. A special 'strategic forces team' raised by the Army conducted the trial with necessary logistic support by various ITR laboratories and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists. The indigenous weapon is a two-stage solid propelled ballistic missile and has a weight of 17 tonnes and length of 20 metres. It can carry a payload of one tonne over a distance...

Fresh tests of the endo-atmospheric anti-ballistic missile system may be conducted in December-January, VK Saraswat, scientific advisor to the defence minister, said on Wednesday. "The first phase of the missile defence shield has been going on for years now and fresh tests are likely in December-January," he said at a seminar on fuel cell technology. The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), which Saraswat heads, aims to develop interceptors that can destroy intermediate-range ballistic missiles. In phase-II, DRDO will develop missiles to neutralise inter-continental ballistic missiles. The phase, however, is in the design stage.

Hydrogen Cell Technology will become a feasible alternative for defence purpose in five years, a top Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official has said. "It will be possible to use hydrogen cell technology for on-board and off board requirements in guns and other defence systems besides electricity requirements of the defence infrastructure," Dr V K Saraswat, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and DG, DRDO, said. “While the cost of generation of electricity using hydrogen cell is around $3,000 per kilo watt, the cost using traditional fuels is just $30 per kilo watt," said Saraswat on the sidelines of International Symposium on Fuel Cell Technologies - Fucetech 2009. However, the cost can be decreased by one tenth, when the generation of electricity using hydrogen cell takes place at a big level. The role of Research & Development must be employed to cut the cost of electricity using hydrogen cell. Dr K Kasturirangan, Member Planning C...

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) along with Indian defence agencies are developing technology to build recoverable hypersonic missiles which will be half the size of the current missiles. This missile will have the potential of hitting a target over 5,000 km away at more than five times the speed of sound (Mach5) and can also be used to launch satellites at low cost, a top scientist working on the project told ET. No time frame has been announced as yet on when the missile work will be completed. This is of special significance as institutions like the Nasa is experimenting on unmanned projects where they will use hypersonic flights to conduct space exploration. Missiles which fly at Mach 3-4 (three to four times the speed of sound) belong to the high supersonic class, while hypersonic missiles can fly at more than Mach 5. India’s longest-range missile, Agni III, is capable of hitting targets 3,500 km away and the forthcoming Agni V which has a range of about 5,...

India’s missile programme took a crucial step forward on Saturday with Indian Air Force test pilots carrying out the captive flight trials of the indigenously designed and developed Astra beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM). A Su-30MKI combat aircraft especially tasked for the trials took off from Air Force Station Lohegaon (Pune) for a 90-minute sortie with the Astra missile. Till Thursday, four sorties, including flying the missile to super sonic speeds and to 7Gs, had been accomplished. Captive trials are mandatory to actual firing of the missile from the aircraft. The active, radar homing Astra -- India’s first air-to-air missile -- which, at its design altitude of 15 km, will enable fighter pilots to lock-on, evade radar and shoot down enemy aircraft about 80 km away, is part of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme and has been under development at a number of defence laboratories led by the Hyderabad-based Defence Research and Development Labora...