...Is a step closer to ICBM

India will test-fire its first inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) in December this year. Defence Minister A.K. Antony has put the development of the ICBM, also code-named the Agni-V, on the top of the priority list of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Antony has also directed the DRDO to hurry up the development of a “credible” ballistic missile defence (BMD) system in order to make India’s nuclear weapons doctrine of ‘no first use’ more credible.

In another significant development, India has announced the induction of the Agni-III into the Strategic Forces Command (SFC). The Agni-III ballistic missile has a range in excess of 3,500 km. “The Agni-III has already been inducted into the armed forces. The development process for this missile has been completed and it is now under (serial) production for the armed forces,” DRDO Chief Dr V.K. Saraswat announced on June 3, with the Defence Minister by his side.

The Agni-III extends the reach of India’s nuclear weapons. The strategic artillery units of the SFC are armed with the 750 km range Agni-I and the 2,500 km range Agni-II, besides the short-range Prithvi variants with ranges between 150 km and 350 km.

But what will propel India into the big league of nuclear weapons powers will be the ICBM, besides of course, the capability to fire ballistic missiles from the Arihant class of nuclear-powered submarines, which is still in the works. While Antony publicly shied away from labelling the Agni-V as an ICBM, this weapon will extend the strike range of India’s ballistic missiles to over 5,000 km, which is widely regarded as the ICBM threshold. For the moment, India will restrict its missile programme to the Agni-V range.

In another significant disclosure, Dr Saraswat revealed plans to develop a new interceptor missile for India’s BMD programme. “Code-named the PDV, it is being developed to intercept an enemy ballistic missile at a height of 150 km above the surface of the earth,” Dr Saraswat told SP’s Land Forces. This will give India the capability to intercept missiles with a longer range.

India is developing a two-tier BMD system designed to neuteralise enemy ballistic missiles in space. In case the first attempt at interception in space (exo-atmosphere) fails, an endo-atmospheric interceptor would attempt to block an incoming missile closer to the surface of the earth. The exo-atmospheric interceptor which has been successfully tested by the DRDO is the PAD, a Prithvi look-alike with an interception range of 80 km above the surface of the earth. The PDV will double the interception range.

“The PDV will complete Phase-I of India’s BMD programme,” Dr Saraswat informed SP’s Land Forces. “We aim to testfire the PDV interceptor in February-March 2012,” the DRDO Chief disclosed. Another validation test for the earlier PAD version of the interceptor will be held in July-August this year, he said.