Fourth launch of Agni-III before Sunday
T. S. Subramanian

Intense preparations are under way on the tiny Wheeler Island, off Damra village on the Orissa coast, for the launch of ballistic missile Agni-III before Sunday.

This will be the fourth launch of Agni-III and it aims at establishing its reliability. “We are doing this flight to demonstrate the robustness of the missile’s systems,” a top missile engineer of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said on Wednesday.

Agni-III, a product of the DRDO, can carry nuclear warheads weighing 1.5 tonnes. It can fly over 3,500 km and even target parts of China. The missile has two stages which are powered by solid propellants. It is 17-metre long, has a diameter of two metres and launch weight of 50 tonnes. The missile re-enters the atmosphere with a high velocity at a temperature of more than 2,500 degrees Celsius. The nuclear warhead is protected by a heat-shield made of carbon-carbon composites.

While the first Agni-III launch on July 9, 2006 failed, the second and third launches on April 12, 2007, and May 7, 2008, witnessed copy-book flights.

K-15 missile

The coming weeks/months will be hectic for the DRDO with one more launch of K-15 missile this month from a submerged pontoon off the coast of Visakhapatnam. The pontoon will simulate the conditions of a submarine. K-15 had been launched earlier from submerged pontoons, but this is a different version. The first version, called Mark-1, is being fitted into the indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine named Arihant.

After the K-15 missile clears the water medium, it climbs 20 km into the air and can destroy targets 700 km away. The missile forms part of the DRDO’s Sagarika project. :p

Shourya, which is the land-version of the underwater-launched K-15 missile, will have its second flight around June from the Integrated Test Range at Balasore, Orissa.

The fourth flight of India’s interceptor missile, which can knock out adversarial ballistic missiles at an altitude of 130 km, is scheduled for September. The DRDO has already scored a hat-trick with three of its interceptor missiles confronting incoming “enemy” ballistic missiles in a “hit-to-kill” mode.

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article100217.ece

So what has happened to KALI? Has that been confined to history as one of the DRDO’s experience builders?

KALI is certainly there. Actually KALI was not developed keeping its active weaponization potential in mind but to assist other high end projects and industry. But after development BARC learned about it’s another ‘uses’. Not KALI but modified derivative of KALI can be a great weapon. At the time of announcement of it’s new capability the KALI-5000 project was completed and used for other projects like LCA and missiles. All these talks are from 1998/1999 and the KALI-5000 was commissioned around 2001/02. I am confident that BARC people were not just having chae-bisscutts for last ten years! 😀

‘epilot’ means data link? or the plane can be flown with out pilot ie remotely? :confused:

May be this MRCA circus is simply IAF putting together a best of breed GSQR for MCA ? 🙂 Won’t we have a few mad vendors !!

MRCA is a circus indeed! If PAK FA comes around 2015 (and FGFA around 2017) then where is the place for MRCA!

IAF’s GSRQ will much much higher for MCA then even FGFA. :rolleyes:

Probably Russians will keep the more sensitive technologies to themselves. By sensitive technologies I mean RAM coating, engines, radars, ESM/ECM, IRST, weapons and soft that will be installed on the definitive version of PAK-FA. So, basically, Indians would receive a platform, and equip it with what whey can produce by themselves or in cooperation with third countries like France and Israel. Equipment whey can not develop or buy (like engines, for example), will come from Russia, but not the same as on Russian PAK-FA (for example, Article 117 or AL-31MF-3 instead of Article 20 or whatever will be on serial planes, OLS-35 instead of OLS-50, and so on).

The good news is, India have some experience with avionics, weapons and composites (either in production or in development), and also experience and connection with French and Israeli military industries.

The other good news is, somewhere down the line, probably this same JV will offer the T-50 for the export. And many of the systems could be supplied by Indians, so they will have the portion of this cake. That is, if they will succeed in producing cheap and adequate alternative to Russian systems and materials.

Just my thought.

And by the way. The figure of 0.5 sq.m. RCS that we have heard from the Indian press, most probably refer to the plane, untreated by RAMs. So this is the starting point. If Indians would manage to develop and produce good radar absorbing materials, there is no limit to the “stelthiness” of FGFA.

India gives 50% of the development costs and Russia keeps almost everything! Indians are not that bad in tech business. Example… MKI, Brahmos, A-50 Mainstay and above all Indians does not want Russian version of PAK FA because it does not meet IAF’s requirements. Russia may keep some of the core technologies but those will be very few. If India feels that any of the subsystem on-board PAK FA is less capable than other comparative solutions India can get from Israel, Europe, USA or own R&D than the IAF will not accept it. India have access to all the MRCA as well he F-35 so they know about the latest systems through out the world. The PAK FA MKI will be 80% Indian made with few ToT from Russia just like Brahmos. FGFA will be 100% indigenous.

Any links to an Indian Airborne Laser ? Would be interested to read more about it.

Its not KALI is it?

No details are available. LASTEC along with other DRDO labs are developing a high energy laser and necessary tracking, focusing and other systems. The project is in primary stage. Currently DRDO have capability to produce 10 to 15 kW laser but they want to take it to MW level to make it effective. It was ‘supposed’ to be a secrete project but Dr. Saraswat revealed it at Aero India 2009. It is not related to the KALI.

Since I don’t see the picture of PAK-FA cockpit, I can’t compare it with the su-35’s cockpit. Because Im waiting some suprises at its cockpit.

Thats also I know that these aircrafts cockpits will be too much similar but Im sure there are some differences such they did at HUD and I wonder the position of the stick!

I think they will go for single large display.

Quadro, you are forgiven. In my opinion, you havent lost a single gram of credibility. I cant wait to see what the coming weeks bring. This is almost as much fun as the first pictures of the flanker appearing in the west back in the 80s 🙂

huh! this is too much! Mr Putin must be enjoying our curiosity!

One day (that day will be very soon) they have to make the aircraft public, atleast on it’s first flight. Because the ‘adversaries’ have enough technologies to watch the airfields day and night. We don’t know if they already done so when PAK FA was doing taxi trials. Then why Russians are not making it open?!!! Cold war is over Mr Putin. 😉

Half of the forum members will curse Sukhoi people if it is not made public before Feb 14th. At least I will do that! :p