Chandigarh, Jan 29: 'Nag', the third generation anti tank missile will be ready for induction into the Indian army by mid-2008.
"The 'Nag' will be ready for induction once the user trials scheduled for the summer of this year are over", Chief Controller, Research and Development (Missile and Strategic Systems), DRDO, Dr V K Saraswat said here today.
Addressing mediapersons, Dr Saraswat said that the last user trials of 'Nag' were held in November-December last year and these were a success. The army is satisfied with the performance of the 'Nag' and its induction will give the armed forces a definate edge, he added.
The Chief Controller was equally optimistic of the performance of the 'Akash' missile saying that it too was ready for induction into the army.
Dispeling doubts on the fueling capacity of the 'Prithvi', Dr Saraswat pointed out that this missile can be fueled at the depot, that is the storage place. " After fueling it can be moved out and its fueling life is for 10 years", he added.
"If you want to fuel the 'Prithvi' or not is an operational matter, this is not a matter of much concern or worry", he added while replying to a question.
Expressing satisfaction with the ongoing Blastic Missile Defence systems, Dr Saraswat said that these were necessary as India is sorrounded by countries which possess blastic missile capabilities. The threat from a blastic missile, particularly if it is fitted with a nuclear warhead becomes multifold and the country has to have defence systems to check this, he added while pointing out that 32 countries today have blastic missiles.
"We have to have the systems that can detect a missle that travels at five kms a second and then accordingly take remedial measures", he added.
Dr Saraswat who is associated with the blastic missile defence systems, said that the scientists here had built surface based long range radars to detect a missile. These radars after picking up the missile, communicate its details to the Interceptor Batteries and then the missile interceptor is launched, he added while discussing the broad outlines of the defence systems.
In the defence systems there are radars that can pick up upto 200 missiles simultaniously, he said. The country has also developed an assessment and assignment Mission Control Centre for countering the missile threat, he added.
"We now have all building tehnological blocks to engage missile threats", he said while pointing out that research would continue on building interceptors to tackle the threat from 'top quality' missiles. He also refered to 'Active Phase Radars' being built in collaboration with Israel and aerial tracking radars for picking up the Cruise missile which travels at low levels and cannot be detected by surface based radar systems.
Refering to the future programmes of DRDO, Dr Saraswat said that work is being carried out on missiles for induction into the navy and air force. The futuristic hypersonic missile programme has also been launched, he added.
Dr Saraswat admitted that the DRDO was facing shortage of trained manpower because of the differntial pay structure of the government sector and the private sector. " The DRDO is a perfect set up for launch and once your market value goes up, you get a job in private IT or electronic companies, he added.
UNI
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