Agni-V, the inter-continental ballistic missile being developed in India, will be test-fired in 2011, director-general of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) V.K. Saraswat, said here on Sunday.
“Agni-V should be ready to be test-fired anytime next year. It is an intermediate-range ballistic missile,” said the Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Defence.
Agni-V will be a three-stage solid fuelled missile that will carry a conventional nuclear warhead. It will reportedly have a range of more than 5,000 km. It will be a canisterised missile, providing it flexibility, to be launched from multiple platforms on land and sea.
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“Over the past 15 years, the successful launches of the Prithvi, Agni and BrahMos missiles have proved that the country's missile programme has reached a mature level,” Dr. Saraswat said.
The DRDO is also working on the next version of the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, he added. Dr. Saraswat was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of an interactive session between academicians, policy makers and the industry, organised by the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).
The ISI and the DRDO signed a memorandum of collaboration for a Rs. 9.7 crore-project to be executed over the next five years on the security of information at installations and networks of the DRDO. “The project involves indentifying high-end security solutions for government installations and our information network.”
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Dr. Saraswat said there were two operations in information security — offensive and defensive — and that the DRDO was currently working on defensive solutions, which it considered essential.