NEW DELHI: India's longest-range ballistic missile, Agni-III, which failed its maiden test on July 9, has more serious problems than have been reported. Unless rectified and successfully proven, the failed Agni-III test will continue to have serious implications for India's credible minimum deterrence, according to the strategic affairs magazine Force.

"The problem in Agni-III occurred in its first rocket itself after the propellant burnt for about 50 seconds. A top Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official confirmed this to Force. This implies a design flaw that could happen on many counts. The gimballed nozzles in the first stage of the rocket may not have functioned, there could have been an irregular flow of propellant through the nozzles, and the propellant itself may require an investigation," writes Force Editor Pravin Sawhney in the latest edition of the magazine.

The magazine goes on to point out that the more pertinent thing is that nothing of Agni-III as a whole system has yet been validated including stage separation, re-entry at high temperature, the composite (carbon-carbon) bonded material on the nose cone of the re-entry vehicle as the temperature at re-entering the atmosphere would be much higher than 3,000 degrees centigrade, the stability of the warhead within the payload and the guidance system which is imperfect for long ranges.

Probably, the ground-testing of various systems was not done successfully as otherwise the basic flaw in the design of the first stage of the propulsion system would have been detected. The DRDO had the time to do this task while it waited for the government's go ahead for the test firing.

According to the DRDO source, it would take upto eight months to a year for detecting flaws and producing a fresh prototype for test firing. Moreover, a single test firing will not suffice. The Agni-III will require a minimum of three to four tests in rapid succession to validate a weapon system before its design is sealed for production.

Test-fired on July 9 from Wheeler's Island off the Orissa coast in the Bay of Bengal, the missile failed after the initial 50 seconds of the launch. According to Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who witnessed the test firing, the take-off was successful but there were problems later. Senior Defence Research and Development Organisation officials projected the impression to the media that the snag was a minor one.

Two versions were carried in the media the next day. One suggested that the first and the second stage of the rocket did not separate, and the other that the second stage did not de-link itself. Force has now given a third version — that it was a design flaw that felled Agni-III.

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