However, it will conduct the first developmental
flight test of its 5,000-km range Agni-V missile
this December, Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) chief Dr. V.K. Saraswat told
reporters Sep 27 on the sidelines of the golden
jubilee celebrations of Defence Institute of Physiology
and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), a premier DRDO lab,
here.
"We are not developing any ICBM. Our threat
perception today is not requiring development
of any ICBM," he said, replying to a query
if DRDO was planning one.
"The first development flight of Agni-V
will be in the month of December this year. Agni-V
will take us to a level of 5,000-km plus class
of missile systems which meets all our threat
requirements," Saraswat, who is also the
scientific adviser to the defence minister, said.
However, he added that the country had the capability
to develop longer range missiles.
"Whether it is a 5,000-km range missile
or a 10,000-km range one, it requires the same
technology. Only the magnitude of the rocket motor,
the size of the rocket motor, or the diameter
of the missile changes. But the science and technology
remains the same," he observed.
(IANS)
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