Indian Build Up

[Bull]

HAL to Unveil Light Combat Helicpoter at Aero India 2007

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A full-scale mock-up of a new attack helicopter will be the highlight of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - display at the Aero India show here next week, even as India's premier aircraft maker looks to cementing new partnerships with key aviation giants during the five-day show.

Loosely based on the hugely successful Eurocopter, the model of the light combat helicopter - will be loaded with a 20-mm gun, a 70-mm rocket and an electro-optical pod.

HAL has been working on the ALH design for the last one-and-a-half years and is expected to roll out the prototype in 2008.

Explaining the rationale behind the LCH, HAL chief Ashok Baweja said: 'We want an attack helicopter that operates at altitudes of over 15,000 feet. When you are operating at such altitudes you must have lighter machines. You can't have a 10-tonne helicopter operating at those heights.'

Currently the only attack helicopter in the Indian Air Force - inventory is the Mi-35 gunship, a 12 tonne machine. Additionally, the IAF has modified its Mi-17 medium lift transport helicopter by mounting machine guns and rocket launchers.

The LCH is the second rotary wing HAL has designed after the Dhruv advanced light helicopter -.

Apart from the Dhruv, HAL will showcase the indigenously developed Tejas light combat aircraft - and the Intermediate Jet Trainer -, as also a fully-functional front section of an Jaguar fighter equipped with the upgraded DARIN-II avionics suite.

The company will also exhibit its advancements in machining, composites and state-of-the-art technological capabilities in aviation and aerospace.

'On the eve of Aero India, HAL looks forward to the future with quiet confidence. In the vibrant India of today, HAL would play an enabling role in encouraging and fostering Indian ambitions to be a leading role player in the world aviation scenario of the next decade,' Baweja said.

'With a firm order book on hand, HAL is cruising ahead to become a powerhouse for design, analysis, engineering and software solutions. This Aero India, HAL will stamp its authority on rotary wing capabilities, weaponisation programmes and strengths in aerospace,' he added.

 

[Bull]

BANGALORE, FEB 5 (PTI)
India will build medium and long endurance unmanned aerial vehicles jointly with an industry partner, a top defence official said today.

"We have taken action already to develop medium and long endurance UAVs to be jointly developed with the industry partner," M Natarajan, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and Defence Research and Development Organisation chief M Natarajan told an international seminar on aerospace technologies here.

"In fact, we already have requested an 'expression of interest' from Indian industries to partner us. We have hopes that they will cater to the needs of the services for mini-UAVs," he said.

"We will support all our manned and unmanned aircraft programmes with engineering simulation facilities and ground rigs to fix all the problems on the ground," he told the inaugural session of the seminar, attended by Defence Minister A K Antony, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi and Secretary in the Department of Defence Production K P Singh.

The Indian Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas, is already evolving into its variants -- the LCA naval version and LCA trainer, with potential to become an advance jet trainer beyond Hawk, he said.

Natarajan said India was also developing the Airborne Early Warning and Control System, with the original proposal envisaging an executive jet-based platform.

"The scope of AEW&C programme is to deliver two fully qualified systems to IAF as part of Phase I," he said. "Additional 6-8 systems are contemplated as part of Phase II of this programme."

 

[Neo]

February 05, 2007

India test-fires short-range ballistic missile

BHUBANESWAR, Feb 4: India successfully test-fired a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday, the head of the test operation said.

The Brahmos cruise missile, developed by India and Russia, was launched off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa. “Mounted on a mobile launcher, the missile was test-fired at 12.15pm today ... off the Orissa coast as part of its user trial,” said A.K. Checkar, director of Integrated Test Range, the body which manages ballistic missile tests.The three-tonne Brahmos, which has a range of 290km is an anti-ship missile, but also has the capability to engage land-based targets. It is 8 metres in length and carries a conventional warhead weighing about 200kg.

Brahmos can reach a speed of Mach 2.823 (970 metres per second), almost three times the speed of sound.—Reuters

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/05/top11.htm

 

[Bull]

February 05, 2007

India test-fires short-range ballistic missile

BHUBANESWAR, Feb 4: India successfully test-fired a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday, the head of the test operation said.

The Brahmos cruise missile, developed by India and Russia, was launched off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa. “Mounted on a mobile launcher, the missile was test-fired at 12.15pm today ... off the Orissa coast as part of its user trial,” said A.K. Checkar, director of Integrated Test Range, the body which manages ballistic missile tests.The three-tonne Brahmos, which has a range of 290km is an anti-ship missile, but also has the capability to engage land-based targets. It is 8 metres in length and carries a conventional warhead weighing about 200kg.

Brahmos can reach a speed of Mach 2.823 (970 metres per second), almost three times the speed of sound.—Reuters

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/05/top11.htm

That heading is flawed Neo, how can a cruise missile be clubbed as a ballestic one?

 

[Bull]

Over 1,000 BrahMos cruise missiles will be delivered to the three services of the Indian armed forces and also to some other countries within the next few years, a top official of Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia, which has developed the missile in partnership with India’s DRDO, said on Monday, Feb. 5.

“Money has already been paid to us for several hundred missiles, built in accordance with some previously concluded contracts,” Gerbert Yefremov, Director-General and Chief Designer of the Moscow-based company was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass.

“The high standard of our weapons has already won contracts for three frigates, which Russia will build for India. Their cost tops all the potentially possible profits from the sale of missiles. These orders, adding up to many billions, were won thanks to our joint work with India and thanks to BrahMos deliveries. The situation will apparently shape up in the same way with submarines in the near future,” Yefremov noted.

“Our joint work is yielding splendid results. One thousand or even two thousand missiles may seem to be an overwhelming number, but it is necessary to bear in mind that approximately 12,000 missiles of previous generations will have to be replaced all over the world within the next fifteen years,” Yefremov said in a statement on the results of the company’s work in 2006.

Work on the BrahMos venture, with the participation of Russian and Indian plants, began in mid-1999.

The first launch of such a missile from a coastal site was successfully carried out on June 12, 2001.

India successfully tested a new modification of the supersonic BrahMos missile on Sunday, Feb. 4.

 

[Bull]

Weaponisation of Tejas in April, says LCA Programme Director

By KG Vasuki






Bangalore, Feb 5 (ANI): India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is poised for weaponisation in April, said Dr. PS Subramanyam, Director of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Programme Director for LCA.

The world's lightest fighter aircraft with state-of-the-art technology would give an impetus to the Indian Air Force in replacing ageing MIGs.

Dr. Subramanyam said the Tejas has evolved from flying stages to combat stages, adding that its weaponisation would prove its tactical capabilities.

"The weaponisation of LCA is a milestone in proving the world Indian capabilities of building a fighter aircraft. This would also take Indian into a league of select nations," Dr. Subramanyam told ANI in an exclusive interview.

According to Dr. Subramanyam, over 200 aircrafts are likely to be built with the help of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to be inducted into the Indian Air Force by 2008.

"The Indigenously built Indian Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, which took to skies in 2001, has now five aircrafts and has already received an order of one squadron of twenty aircrafts by the Indian air force. In fact, weaponisation is a very crucial and complicated process in a combat aircraft," Dr. Subramanyam said.

Dr Subramanyam is also hopeful of joint efforts by private companies across the globe to market this fourth generation fighter aircraft. (ANI)

 

[Janbaz]

US asks India to 'try us' as defence partner

BANGALORE (AFP) - The United States has for the first time flown in its big guns for India’s air show, seeking a slice of a market that may generate 30 billion dollars of defence deals in five years.
More than 50 firms from the United States are taking part in Aero India started Wednesday, including Boeing, which makes the F-18, Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-16, General Electric and Raytheon.
The massive C-17 heavy lift-aircraft, the naval reconnaissance P-3 Orion and the CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter will all be in action over the skies of south India.
“A new chapter is beginning in the US-India relationship,” said Anil Shrikhande, vice president and country head for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, a unit of the US giant planemaker.
“There are opportunities for US companies, which have a lot to offer,” he said, adding that for Boeing “a whole dimension has opened up.”
US Ambassador David Mulford recalled that his country’s representation at the last air show at this hi-tech hub in 2005, was limited to two F-15 fighter planes that did not fly.
“They were stationary on the runway,” Mulford said. “This time, we have three F-16s and two F-18s, which will be flying, as will other airplanes.”
What the banker-turned-diplomat called the ‘heightened visibility’ of the United States at the event is symbolic of the warming of a relationship that has often been uneasy.
Washington is plugging its companies to tap a market that may generate as much as 30 billion dollars worth of defence deals in the next five years.
India was the pre-eminent ally of the former Soviet Union, the United States’ Cold War rival, and still sources two-thirds of its military needs from Russia, its successor-state.
The US has also been the main military backer of Pakistan, the neighbour with which India has been to war three times since the subcontinent’s 1947 independence from Britain and subsequent partition.
Relations have improved dramatically since the passage last year of a landmark US-Indian deal allowing New Delhi access to civilian US nuclear technology after all such ties were cut following India’s first atomic test in 1974.
Ambassador Mulford, envoy to India for three years now, acknowledged that past memories may still rankle in some Indian memories.
“These are issues that go back in time,” he said, adding Washington wants to prove itself to be a reliable military supplier for the country.
Now, India should “try us,” he said, promising technology transfers and help in local production.
Ron Somers, president of the USINDIA Business Council, said he had recently read that an Indian official had estimated the country’s defence procurements at 30 billion dollars in the next five years, which US companies want to grab a part of.
“But what is important is that India is being viewed by the US as a major link in the global supply chain, which will create thousands of jobs,” Somers told AFP. “It is not just about the US selling equipment to India.”
India expects to call a tender by mid-2007 for 126 combat planes for its air force, a defence ministry official said Tuesday.
The contract, coveted by the giants of military aerospace worldwide, may be worth as much as nine billion dollars.
Lining up to replace India’s ageing fleet of Soviet era MiG-21s are the F-18 and F-16, Russia’s MiG-29 and the Gripen, made by Sweden’s Saab. The European defence and aircraft group EADS has also pitched its Eurofighter, and Dassault of France its fourth-generation Rafale.

The Nation.
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/feb-2007/8/index1.php

 

[Introvert]

India to buy 166 new fighter jets​

India will buy 166 new fighter jets as a part of a drive to modernise its armed forces, the country's defence minister and air force chief say.

Speaking after Aero India, India's largest-ever air show, opened on Wednesday, the country's defence minister said he would soon invite foreign companies to supply it with 126 new fighter jets.

India will also buy 40 Sukhoi Su-30 fighters from Russia before the end of March, the country's air force chief said on Thursday.

Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi said: "We think that in this financial year, we will sign the contract [for the Sukhois]."

Ty said the advanced Sukhoi jets would cost slightly less $40m each and would be delivered within three years.

Aero India - a five-day display of the world's latest military and civilian aircraft - is being held in Bangalore, a city in southern India.

Invitation

A K Antony, India's defence minister, had already said on Wednesday that he would soon invite offers from companies interested in supplying India with 126 new fighter aircraft.

"It [the request for proposals] is almost in the final stage. I can assure you it will be at the earliest," he said at the start of the country's largest ever," he said.

"We feel that the modernisation [of the armed forces] is the most important agenda of the government ... By a strong deterrent only we can prevent even a war."

Antony said that India wants to replace its ageing MiG-21s and British Jaguar planes with more modern models.

More purchases

The defence minister also said the Indian government would procure $8bn to $10bn worth of defence equipment in the next five years as part of its modernisation programme.

India - which already has one of the world's largest air forces - raised its defence spending by seven per cent to $20bn for the year ending March 2007.

News of India's plans to expand its air force has prompted the world's largest aviation firms to flock to the air show to display their latest aircraft.

The 126-plane deal has so far attracted interest from European manufacturers like France's Dassault which is promoting its Rafale fighter, and Sweden's Saab, eager to sell its JAS-39 Gripen.

On display

The Russians are also pushing their cutting-edge MiG-35 fighter which they have brought to the Bangalore air show.

Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin's F-16 are also competing for the contract.

Eurofighter, which is made by a consortium of European aircraft makers including Airbus parent EADS, Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Finmeccanica, said on Wednesday it too would aggressively compete for the Indian order.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/745572AF-3EA8-497D-B270-355195D1162D.htm

 

[Introvert]

India To Manufacture 40 More Russian Su-30 Mki Fighter Jets​

NEW DELHI, Feb 9 (Bernama) -- India's government has endorsed the funding of licensed production of another 40 Su-30 MKI fighter jets within the framework of agreements with Russia, Itar-Tass reported Friday.

A new contract with Russia's jet manufacturer Sukhoi will be signed in the current financial year ending in March. The price of one such fighter is estimated by Indian experts at around US$40 million, Chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi told journalists at the sixth air show Aero-India 2007.

India's intention to expand the programme of the Su-30 MKI's license production was included in the protocol of Russia-India intergovernmental commission on military cooperation that met in New Delhi on Jan 24.

Under the contract signed in 2000, India's major aerospace manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was to produce about ten warplanes a year, bringing the total to 140.
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=245974

 

[Janbaz]

Lockheed Martin sees $10 bn potential in India's defence space

US defence and aerospace major Lockheed Martin sees a $10-billion potential for itself in India's defence space over the next five years and is awaiting signals from the government to sell a wide range of products.

Speaking to IANS on the margins of the ongoing Aero India show here, officials of the Bethesda, Maryland-based company said discussions were on with the Indian government for an array of products - from helicopters and multi-role combat aircraft to missiles and cockpit simulators.

'Considering India's annual defence purchase budget of some $8 billion and its intended programme in this area over the next five-seven years, we see a $10 billion market for ourselves,' said Lockheed vice president Orville Prins.

'And this is not counting the huge business potential we see in areas other than defence,' Prins said, and listed information technology and ship-building among the areas where the group will have interests in India.

One of the primary areas that Lockheed Martin is concentrating for the bids the Indian government is expected to call for to buy as may as 126 multi-role combat aircraft.

Lockheed's F16 is among six global aerospace firms in the fray for the multi-billion dollar procurement project. 'Our bid will incorporate the requirements of the Indian Air Force,' said Prins, also the head for F16 programme for India.

Lockheed officials also expect India to finalise another defence deal to buy 16 C-130J Hercules transport aircraft by December this year. The government may opt for buying another six at a later date.

'I hope it happens this year. But strictly, it is between the Indian Air Force and the United States Air Force. We are facilitators,' Prins said, explaining his company's role in facilitating the deal.

The senior Lockheed executive also spoke about India's offsets programme under which 30 percent of all deals valued at over Rs.3 billion ($68 million) have to be reinvested back in the country.

'It is restrictive but we would like India to establish a system to bank offset credits,' Prins said, adding it would encourage overseas companies to partner with their Indian counterparts.

He said Lockheed was looking at various models to invest in India such as direct investment and joint ventures. The US company has some 300 such ventures across the globe.

Speaking about other products offered to India, Lockheed officials said the Indian Navy was also evaluating its proposal for selling P3-C Orion for anti-submarine and surveillance.

Apart from the F16 and C-130J Hercules, the group has also displayed its PAC-3 Patriot ballistic missile. The MH-60R multi-role helicopter, a multi-mission machine based on SH-60B and SH-60F Seahawks.

India E-News.
http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20070209/38758.htm

 

[Neo]

Friday, February 09, 2007

India to buy 40 Russian jets by March

BANGALORE: India said on Thursday that it was preparing to spend US $1.6 million on buying 40 Russian-built Sukhoi fighter planes, as part of an arms purchase spree to bolster firepower.

Speaking to reporters at the Aero India air show, Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi said that the government was expecting to sign a contract to buy the Sukhoi-30 aircraft by the end of the current fiscal year on March 31. He said that the fighter jets would be delivered over a three-year period, adding that each plane would cost an estimated $40 million.

The air force, he went on to say, was also in the international market for 80 heavy-lift helicopters and six transporters. The announcement came after Russian President Valdimir Putin visited India as the chief guest for the country’s Republic Day celebrations on January 26. In addition, Tyagi said that the government was proposing to buy 126 multi-role fighter aircraft, a deal potentially worth nine billion dollars, to replace the ageing fleet of MiG-21s - a deal which is being coveted by the giants of global aerospace.

“There’s a whole lot of hardware coming in. We are getting a lot of goodies.” But he stressed that purchases would depend on “the price being right” and the product “being able to do what we require it to”.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\09\story_9-2-2007_pg7_62

 

[Contrarian]

India unveils high-tech gunship

Yelahanka (Bangalore): Indian Army troops who have fought off enemy aggression on high-altitude frontiers can now take heart.

India looks set to develop an attack helicopter capable of providing aerial fire support to troops in high-altitude battlefields.

India needed such helicopter gunship during the Kargil conflict, but did not have it.

The gap in India's capability of providing air support to infantry troops fighting in high-altitude battlefields is now being addressed.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is re-jigging the Advanced Light Helicopter to provide Indian forces their first dedicated attack helicopter which is able to fly hot and high.

The need for a helicopter gunship, capable of operating at high-altitude, was felt during the Kargil conflict, when the Russian M-17 proved to be a sitting duck for intruders armed with Stinger missiles.

But the new gunship can hover over inaccessible areas and hunt down enemies at places where fixed-wing, fast-moving aircraft find it difficult to track targets.

This gunship-in-the-making is being designed to carry and deliver a 1,500-kilo weapon-load even at the world's highest battlefields.

And a mock-up display at the Bangalore airshow suggests that this helicopter will be so full of fire that it will rain hell on the enemy from the air.

If it's cluster bombs don't get the enemy, it's air-to-ground missiles will. One of the two pilots on board will have a dedicated firing role.

"Any future battle will be fought with helicopters and missiles," said HAL Chief Test Pilot C D Upadhyay.

The Light Attack Helicopter has a narrow airframe for stealth. It will have more utility than the IAF's Russian-made Mi-35 gunship, which cannot operate at heights.

It's a mean looking machine. Actually, it reminds me a bit of the Tiger chopper gunship. It's cockpit looks a little like a greenhouse. But this is just a mock-up. We're told that the final product will look much better.

HAL hopes to equip the IAF with about 70 gunships starting 2010.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india-unveils-hightech-gunship/top/33225-3.html

 

[Contrarian]

Navy to Bolster Submarine Fleet; RFP's Expected Shortly

With a view to bolster its undersea fighting capabilities, the Navy is poised to open international bids for acquisition and construction of second range of submarines.

"The Request for proposals (RFP) to acquire and build six new range of submarines would be floated shortly", a senior Naval official told PTI.

In contention would be the Russians with their 4th generation Amur class submarines armed with vertically launched KLUB-S Missiles and new generation of German HDW submarines with their Air Independent propulsion systems (AIP).

Navy has already firmed up a deal with the French warship builders DCN International for construction of six scorpene submarines at Mazagoan docks in Mumbai. The first of these hunter-killer submarines are expected to roll out by 2011.

Naval officials have ruled out equipping any of the six Scorpene submarines with AIP, but Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta has said this capability would be a criteria for the new planned acquisition of six more submarines.

However, the navy remains tightlipped about progress of a proposal to acquire two Russian Akula (Bars) class type 971 Nuclear powered submarines, as part of India's nuclear detterent based on sea, land and air platforms.

"We definitely would want to have Nuclear submarines because of their long undersea endurance, the decision has to be political", Naval officials said.

Naval and DRDO scientists have been working on an indegenious nuclear submarines for years, but are cautious to go public on the project labelled Advance Technology Vehicle. According to sources, India may go in for first sea trials of the submarines by 2009.

Indian and Russian dockyards have been in negotiation for over three years on the acquisition of the Amur class submarines, which are described as successors to the Indian Navy's Kilo class submarines.

Amur displacement is smaller than Kilo, but its capabilities are stated to be far superior." The Russians have offered to incorporate Rubin-Designed fuel cell AIP in their offer of technology transfer to India.

Amur has a displacement of 2000 ton and can attain maximum speed of 21 knots when submerged and 10 knots when surfaced, with a crew of 30 to 34 personnel and an endurance of 45 days.

The Russians had designed the new AIP system to be retrofitted to the Indian Navy Sindhughosh class submarines, some of which are currently being upgraded at St Petersburg. However, the navy opted to go in for vertically launched Klub-S missiles instead.

The Amur class submarines also sport anti-ship missiles such as SS-N-15 or the SS-N-16 missiles and a variety of mines and topedoes.

The Russians had designed the new generation Amur class submarines for joint induction into the Indian and Russian Navies and the subs are expected to cost significantly less than the Kilo class.

However, the Americans could be late entrants for Indian submarine deal and by the time the RFP's are issued in late march or early April, they could also be in the hunt for the Indian deal.

On other acquisition prospects, Naval officials said evaluation was currently underway for inducting eight Maritime Reconissance Aircraft. "Bids from Boeing and Airbus for the long range spy planes and from Lockheed-Martin offering the P3C Orions and Russian IL-38D for the short range requirment are under study".

Navy is also planning to buy 16 helicopters with the option of another eight to replace its ageing Seaking Mk 42s and Seaking Mk42s fleet, which are fast approaching the end of their service life. They said Navy was also acquiring naval versions of the Hawk jet trainers.
http://www.india-defence.com/reports/2891

 

[Contrarian]

IAF to acquire 120-km range air-to-air BVR missiles

New Delhi, Feb. 18 (PTI): To maintain its unchallenged dominance in beyond visual range (BVR) combat in the South Asian region, Indian Air Force has embarked upon a major plan to acquire longer range air-to-air missiles.

India's dominance in offensive air superiority operations is being dented by the supply of similar BVR missiles to Pakistan by the US in government-to-government sales.

This sudden move has spurred IAF officials to make quick efforts to purchase 120-km range air-to-air missiles. The acquisition of such missiles, which sport ramjet propulsion, will make IAF the lone Air Force in Asia to have such an unparallelled capability, top IAF officials said.

Acquisition of these missiles is being undertaken in tandem with moves to induct combat aircraft with active phased array radars.

The new 40 Sukhoi-30 advanced version MKI, whose purchase in a deal worth 2.6 billion dollars has been cleared by the government, and 126 medium range combat aircraft, tenders for which are expected to be floated by this month-end, will be equipped with the new radars, officials said.

These new radars will for the first time give the IAF the capability to detect targets as far as 300 km away and the means to fire such longer range air-to-air missiles.

Till now, the IAF had an unchallenged dominance in beyond visual range combat with its array of MiG fighters equipped with R-27 REI and R-27 RETs missiles with a target lock-on of 35 km for close combat and the longer range R-77 and French R-550 Magic Mantra missiles capable of shooting down targets 60 km away.

But the recent decision of the US administration to clear the supply of AMRAAM and AIM-9M Sidewinder beyond visual range missiles to Pakistan has eroded the IAF's dominance in air combat, officials admitted.

The US government has cleared the sale of AMRAAM and Sidewinder air-to-air missiles worth 240 million dollars to Islamabad to equip its new batch of 50 F-16 fighters.

"There are moves also to start indigenous development of such long-range missiles by DRDO with possible foreign collaboration," a DRDO sources said.

With the induction of three Phalcon airborne early warning and control aircraft between November this year and 2009, the IAF would get the capability to conduct and control airborne operations upto 400 km inside hostile airspace.

The new Su-30MKI, which India would be acquiring by 2009, would be equipped with Ibris active phased radars which will transform the fighters into a dedicated information weapons platforms.

Thanks to a large number of fighter exercises carried out with foreign Air Forces, IAF pilots have mastered beyond visual range combat even in an AWACS environment. "The pilots are all agog to train with longer range BVR missiles," an IAF official said.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200702181150.htm

 

[Contrarian]

Defective heat shield caused Indian missile glitch

A defective heat shield caused the failure of the first test-firing of the indigenously developed nuclear capable intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) Agni-III last year, a top scientist said Wednesday.

'We have identified the problem. It was because of a defective heat shield. It is a problem that is easily resolvable,' M. Natarajan, who is the scientific advisor to the defence minister, told reporters on the sidelines of a defence awards function here.

'We were using a rigid heat shield. Now we have realised the need for a flexible heat shield,' he added.

Explaining the glitch, Natarajan said that when a missile travels at hypersonic speeds, it encounters immensely cold air that mixes with the hot air from its exhaust. Because of the rigid heat shield, this cold air got sucked inside, causing the missile to veer off course and crash into the sea well short of its 3,000 km intended range.

'As I said, it is a problem that is easily resolvable, otherwise I wouldn't be standing here smiling,' Natarajan contended.

He, however, would not put a timeframe to when the missile would again be test- fired.

Agni-III, India's longest range missile yet that is capable of reaching targets in China, was test-fired at 11.03 a.m. from the Wheeler Island facility off the Orissa coast July 9, 2005. It rose to a height of 12 km before it came crashing into the Bay of Bengal, 1,000 km from the launch site.

According to noted defence analyst Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar, the launch could not be entirely termed a failure.

'It's an important punctuation in the evolution of India's credible nuclear deterrence. The fact that it took off is a major success. Re-entry is always a tricky situation and I would think it would take eight to 10 tests before it fully evolves,' Bhaskar told IANS.

Agni-III, which has a range between 3,500 and 5,000 km, features two solid-fuelled stages and has an overall diameter of 1.8 metres. It can be deployed from rail or road mobile launch vehicles and from silos. It is equipped with inertial guidance systems with improved optical or radar terminal phase correlation systems that gives it a high degree of accuracy.

Agni-I, with a range of 700-800 km, and Agni-II, with a 2,000-km range, have already been inducted in the Indian Army.
http://www.indiaprwire.com/businessnews/20070214/17423.htm