March 2013 News 15: INDIA TEST FIRES K-15 MISSILE SUCCESSFULLY

INDIA TEST FIRES K-15 MISSILE SUCCESSFULLY

India achieved a major milestone on January 27, 2013 by establishing underwater missile launch capability when K-15 missile, code-named B05, was successfully test-fired off the Vishakhapatnam Coast. The 10 metre high Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (S.L.B.M.), lifted off from a pontoon as it was ejected by a gas generator, rose to an altitude of 20 km and reached its full range of 700 km before splashing down in the waters of the Bay of Bengal with single digit accuracy.

India is the fifth country to have underwater missile capability. The other nations are the United States, France, Russia and China.

Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister V.K. Saraswat said that with this launch India achieved perfection in underwater missile launch capability. The development of the system was completed and the performance of the missile was as per specification. “this is a major milestone in the country's strategic defence capability”, he added. The missile would be ready for integration on platforms in the near future.

On the development of the K-4 missile with a range of 3,000 km, he said that as was done in the case of the Agni family of missiles, a series of underwater K-series missiles would be developed.

A DRDO official called the missile "a deadly deterrent", which would be armed with a nuclear war-head.

A DRDO missile technologist said launching a missile from under the water involved complex technology because the safety of the personnel manning the submarine was of paramount importance.

The K-15 missile was designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad, a DRDO missile-making facility. A. K. Chakrabarti is the Director of the DRDL.

With the completion of developmental trials, the missile is now ready for integration with INS Arihant, the indigenously-built nuclear-powered submarine. In the coming years, India will have four nuclear-powered submarines. Besides Arihant, a nuclear powered submarine is being built at the Vishakhapatnam Naval Dock Yard and the hulls of two other submarines are under fabrication in Vadodara, Gujarat.