Agni-IV production by 2014

November 16th, 2011 - 9:33 pm ICT by IANS  

New Delhi, Nov 16 (IANS) India, which successfully tested the new generation Agni-IV medium-range ballistic missile Tuesday, will carry out further tests of the weapon system till 2013 to ensure it is ready for production by 2014, defence scientists said here Wednesday.

They also pointed out that Agni-IV was the first ever missle test by India that soared over 3,000-km range and “beyond the equator” to the southern hemisphere.

Avinash Chander of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) told reporters that the test phase for the Agni-IV missile will be completed in 2012 with repeatable tests and user-trials in 2013 before it goes for production.

He said this will be the shortest time between development and production stages of the missile.

Asked if Agni-IV will leave the 2,000-km-range Agni-II and 3,000-km-range Agni-III redundant, DRDO Director General V.K. Saraswat said each of these missiles had their own unique use for the armed forces and hence would co-exist as operational weapon systems of the armed forces.

Avinash Chander said Agni-II would be for the Western sector. Sarawat noted that India’s security needs of these ballistic missiles were limited and hence deployment will be restricted to certain sectors for each of the Agni-series missiles.

Saraswat also pointed out that there was a difference between Agni-III and Agni-IV. The latter was a much smaller in size but had higher accuracy. Agni-IV had a “pencil-like” look and accelerated much more than Agni-III.

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