“Many friendly nations want Akash Missile from India. In a couple of years, India, with active involvement of its local industries being strategic partners in design and production of weapon and missile technology, will be able to export the same to friendly nations. Hyderabad, from where at least 50 industries contributed significantly towards the development of Agni-V, is earmarked to play a crucial role. However, right now, the focus is to fulfil the domestic needs in terms of production and quality of technology for our defence forces at competitive costs,” disclosed Dr V.K. Saraswat, scientific adviser to defence minister and DG, DRDO, adding that DRDO should have a larger role in terms of selecting the production partners from private industries. He said that the defence ministry is also in concurrence with the same.
Maintaining that India has all the anti-satellite system capabilities, Dr Saraswat added that the policy on Non-Proliferation of Arms continues to be in place. “With Agni-V, we have attained and proven our self-reliance in terms of technology, making us independent from the external controls and erstwhile blackmailing resulting in reduced acceleration in missile technology,” he said.
He further added, “April 2012 is a milestone month in the history of Indian Aero Space Science with missions like Agni-V, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Navy having been carried out successfully.” When asked about the Ballistic Missiles Defence (BMD), Dr Saraswat said that “Phase-I of BMD will be completed by the year 2013 for intercepting Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles with a range of 2,000 km.” He said that the second phase of BMD will be completed by 2016 for intercepting intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) with ranges over 5,000 km.
When asked about the test of Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM), the DRDO chief replied that the test shall be conducted in June 2012. He termed the Tatra Trucks issue as an “aberration.”
Dr Saraswat, being the chairman of Aeronautical Society of India, was in the city in connection with Aerospace Luminary Lecture Series and was accompanied by Agni-V director Dr Avinash Chander.