India on Friday successfully test-fired its indigenously-developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II and Dhanush ballistic missiles in separate trials, boosting the armed forces' operational readiness.
Swamy, a close friend of the Rajapaksa family, also met with Gotabaya's brother Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday evening and attended the Navratri pooja at his residence.
"No, she will not make me the PM," was Dr Pranab Mukherjee's cryptic response in a reference to Sonia Gandhi when he was asked by his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee about his chances of becoming the prime minister in 2004.
Describing the trial a "complete success", sources said that all the mission objectives were met during the test.
India spent Rs 15,443.01 crore during 2010-11 to import arms and ammunition marking an increase of Rs 5,266.93 crore as against the defence expenditure in 2007-08, the government said on Monday.
The army has long been deficient in artillery, the modern battlefield's most lethal killer, says Ajai Shukla.
Prithvi-2 is capable of carrying 500-1,000 kg of warheads and is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines, the sources said.
Defence Research and Development Organisation Director General Vijay Kumar Saraswat on Friday said the Agni-V missile, which took 30 years to be developed, was the best such thing in the 21st century. Agni-V is an intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the DRDO. It is part of the Agni series of missiles, one of the missile systems under the original Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.
The new outreach from a traditionally inward-focused DRDO is rooted in a realistic assessment that the international sanctions regimes have loosened; global arms majors are eager to provide technologies that can fill in gaps in the DRDO's own technology bank.
Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday indicated a revamp of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, to give it capability to produce futuristic systems within the country."DRDO will have to play a crucial role in providing strategic defence with suitable delivery systems to the nation," Antony said. The DRDO and the end-users, the armed forces, would have to work with greater synergy to achieve the goal of self-reliance and minimise dependence on foreign nations.
Defence Minister A K India on Tuesday successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable BrahMos missile, with a range of 290 kms, at Pokhran. Antony told reporters in New Delhi that the test was pre-planned and not directed against any country. The missile, capable of touching a speed of 2.8 times that of sound, was launched during the trial in its vertical mode, Defence Research and Development Organisation officials told PTI.
An eco-friendly green toilet is a reality in an express train under the East Central Railway zone in Bihar, railway officials on Wednesday said.
The Army and the Defence Research Development Organisation will jointly carry out comparative trials of indigenous 'Arjun' tanks with Russian-made T-90s this June, increasing prospects of the former's induction in the force soon.
After the success of Agni-V project, India is developing an Anti-Radiation Missile which can hugely multiply the strike capabilities by destroying the enemy's advance warning system.
After a detailed deliberations, it was decided a standard draft international agreement for establishing hotlines and a set of standard operating procedures will be prepared by DRDO and MTNL, which will be used for negotiations with foreign partners, the sources said.
Must Watch: Agni 5 launch; Veena gets Dirty
Join Rediff.com in congratulating the DRDO scientists responsible for the successful launch of Agni 5. Let them know how proud you are by posting your comments on the message board below.
As protests rage in Kudankulam and reach a crescendo, V Ponraj, scientific advisor to Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, speaks about the report he and the former Indian President prepared in this interview with rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
As the grenades burst, the extract and explosive material get dispersed in the atmosphere giving acute irritation to the throat and skin. The grenade material also chokes the respiratory tract causing difficulty in breathing. It will also be possible to create a smoke screen with the grenade burst, the sources said.
The HSTDV is capable of powering missiles to attain a speed of around Mach 6 or six times the speed of sound, the officials said, adding only a very few countries like the United States, Russia and China have such a capability.
With the Defence Research and Development Organisation facing "bitter criticism" over delays in major projects like Light Combat Aircraft and the Arjun tank, Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday asked the research agency to complete its programmes within the prescribed time-limit.
In contrast to the US which is "doing a lot of work" in developing and manufacturing Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), India is more focused on developing UAVs as it considers intelligence gathering more challenging in future wars, Defence Research and Development Organisation said on Friday.
The Indian Army will showcase the main battle tank T-90 Bhishma, infantry combat vehicle BMP-II-Sarath, mobile autonomous launcher of the Brahmos missile system, multi-launcher rocket system Pinaka, electronic warfare system Samvijay among others during the parade on Tuesday, the Defence ministry noted.
The test of the indigenously built Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile was carried out from a mobile launcher at about 1006 hrs from launch pad-4 of Integrated Test Range at Wheelers Island near Dhamra, about 80 km from Balasore in Orissa, defence sources said.
Bio-toilets developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation on Tuesday earned praise from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said that these could go a long way in solving the problem of open defecation in rural India.
India's military spending of USD 76.6 billion ranked third highest in the world.
