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George Iype in Cochin
The development of the surface-to-air Trishul missile has suffered a major setback after a test version missile exploded killing one engineer and injuring three technicians at the Naval Armament Depot, Cochin on Tuesday.
The Naval Armament Depot, which belongs to the Defence Research Development Organisation, is an assembling unit for Trishul missiles, which the country's apex defence research agency has been trying to build and induct into the armed forces for the last 16 years.
DRDO sources said that the test firing of Trishul, tentatively scheduled for April 16, will be postponed indefinitely now.
DRDO officials gave different versions as to how the blast occurred.
According to one official, the explosion occurred when some engineers and technicians were examining the rocket motor.
But another senior DRDO engineer claimed that the propulsion system of the missile exploded when it was being assembled.
The explosion charred to death P Upendra, a DRDO engineer who had come specially from the Hyderabad-based Bharat Dynamics Limited to conduct a series of tests on the missile.
Interestingly, a similar disaster had hit the BDL laboratory in Hyderabad on January 4 this year when the surface-to-surface Milan missile exploded while it was being inspected by a high-level DRDO and Defence team. The explosion killed Narasimhachari, a quality control inspector.
DRDO officials maintained that the "two freak" incidents are not connected. "But the explosions are a cause for worry for us because they hit our ambitious indigenous missile development programme," a DRDO source pointed out.
Development and induction of Trishul and other missiles like Akash has been part of the DRDO's Integrated Guided Missile Development programme for which the government has spent millions of rupees over the years.
The Trishul project was launched in 1983. The original deadline for its induction into the Indian Navy was 1992. But nearly one decade later and after spending more than Rs 2.6 billion on its development, the missile is still undergoing trials in DRDO laboratories.
DRDO sources say the missile's command guidance system does not work properly. Two of the three Trishul missile trials carried out in Cochin last year failed because of this technical problem.
The DRDO claimed early this year that it had solved the snag and scheduled a test-firing for this month. But now the Cochin explosion may force the DRDO to embark on further laboratory tests on the missile.
Delay in the induction of a surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile like Trishul in the main battle ships like the INS Brahmaputra has been forcing the Navy to shop for Barak missiles from Israel.
ALSO SEE OUR SPECIAL SERIES ON DRDO: Chinks in the armour
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