The more than 3,500-km range home-grown ballistic missile, believed to be most lethal of the weapon systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists, was blasted at 10.50 hrs and covered the pre-designated range with 100 per cent accuracy, top officials told The Hindu from Wheeler Island soon after the successful launch.
The solid-propelled, two-stage missile can carry nuclear warheads weighing up to 1.5 tonnes. It is 17 metres tall and has a launch weight of 50 tonnes with a two-metre diameter.
When contacted, V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and Director-General, DRDO, said it was a fantastic launch and a “hat-trick for Agni-III with three successes”. The trajectory went perfectly according to the plan till the last decimal place, and only mathematical people would understand the success, he said. “It gave us full range and pinpoint accuracy,” he added.
A.Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD, BrahMos Aerospace, called the success an “important milestone for the country. It will lead to induction of the missile”. The success would bring credit to DRDO scientists, he said.
A. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, Life Sciences and Human Resources, DRDO also termed it as an “important milestone in developing the country's defence and developing the second strike capability. The flight proved the robustbness of all the systems and software”.
With the third consecutive success of Agni-III, he said “it is now a proven missile. It is a big morale booster for our missile scientists and institutions”, he observed.
Avinash Chander, Agni programme director and director, Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), called it a “perfect success”. Stating that all the mission objectives were met, he said all the events listed in the launch were executed with accuracy and described it as a “thrilling experience”.
A top DRDO missile technologist said the mission was a “good success and the trajectory of the flight was excellent. Everything worked well, including all payload systems”, he added.
Even though the missile did not carry a live warhead, its nuclear triggering mechanism worked well. Instead of a nuclear warhead, it carried chemical explosives, the missile technologist added.
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