A monthly house bulletin of Defence Research & Development Organisation
■ Vol. 32 No. 6 ■ June 2012
India tests Long-range Missile Agni 5— Joins Exclusive Club
I
ndia’s long-range strategic missile Agni 5, with a range of more than 5000 km, was successfully test fired on 19 April 2012 from the Wheeler’s Island, Odisha. The missile followed the entire trajectory in a textbook style. The three propulsion stages and composite rocked motors, developed indigenously by DRDO, performed well. Ships, located in mid-range and at the target point, tracked the missile and witnessed the final event. Radars and electro-optical systems along the path monitored all the parameters of Agni 5 and displayed these in real time. Many new technologies developed indigenously worked successfully in Agni 5. The redundant navigation systems, very high accuracy ring laser gyro-based inertial navigation system (RINS), and the most modern and accurate micro navigation system (MINS) ensured that the missile reaches the target point within few meters of accuracy. The high-speed onboard computer and fault tolerant software along with robust and reliable bus guided the missile flawlessly. Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh congratulated Dr VK Saraswat, SA to RM, Secretary Defence R&D and DG DRDO; Shri Avinash Chander, DS and CC R&D (MSS) and all the scientists of DRDO for making the country proud. Shri AK Antony, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri
also congratulated scientists on this important event. National Security Advisor Shri Shiv Shankar Menon, while congratulating DRDO, said that the event is a milestone in the long-range missile era of India. Air Marshal KJ Mathews, C-in-C, SFC, who witnessed the launch, said that the success of Agni 5 is a historic event for India. Dr VG Sekaran, DS and Director ASL, Dr SK Chaudhari, OS and Director RCI, Shri AK Chakrabarti, OS and Director DRDL, Shri SP Dash, OS and Director ITR, and Shri Guruprasad, Director R&DE (Engineers), Pune, were present during the launch operations. Shri RK Gupta, Project Director, guided the team of scientists and employees of DRDO during the launch activities.
Top (L to R): A jubilant Dr Saraswat, Dr Sekaran and Mrs Tessi Thomas after the successful launch of Agni 5. Below: Shri Avinash Chander, Dr Sekaran and Dr Saraswat at the assembling site.