http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/24/stories/2009112450090100.htm Manmohan signals expansion of liberalisation policies, calls for American investment Malini Parthasarathy Accord on reprocessing will be a major gain from visit India keen on exploring areas of cooperation with U.S. on energy efficiency and clean energy Government plans to push ahead on key reforms, especially aimed at checking deficit Washington: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, addressing a prestigious gathering of top ranking American CEOs and business leaders on Monday, made a strong pitch for American business to increase investment in crucial areas such as infrastructure. He invited it to explore the public-private partnership projects in infrastructure that are being set up in India. He was speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In a significant indication of a possible expansion of his government’s liberalisation policies, Dr. Singh said American business was welcome to invest in other areas such as agriculture-_base_d businesses, including cold chains, agricultural marketing and food processing, manufacturing and mining. He also mentioned retailing and tourism in this regard. Acknowledging the role of the American business community in persuading the U.S. Congress to support India’s civilian nuclear agreement, Dr. Singh announced that both India and the U.S. were now “finalising the details that will make the agreement fully operational.” Once that is done, “it will remove restrictions on the flow of technology in nuclear and many other areas.” This would open a large area of commercial opportunities for U.S. business. Dr. Singh’s remarks make it clear that the agreement on fuel reprocessing will be a major initiative emerging from his visit. Climate change Confirming earlier indications that the issue of climate change was being prioritised on the Indo-U.S. dialogue agenda and was _link_ed to the issue of energy security, the Prime Minister said that while India was addressing the problem domestically through a National Action Plan for Climate Change, it was interested in exploring areas of cooperation with the U.S. on energy efficiency and clean energy. He announced that in his meetings with President Obama and others on Tuesday, India would sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Security, Clean Energy and Climate Change. This would provide a _frame_work for pursuing bilateral cooperation in specific areas, he said. Dr. Singh also assured the gathering of his commitment to economic reforms. “You should have no doubt on that score,” he said, adding that his government planned to push ahead on key reforms, especially “aimed at bringing the deficit under control while ensuring a strong expansion in investment in infrastructure.” At this meeting hosted by the U.S.-India Business Council, Dr Singh said he and President Obama have reconstituted the Indo-U.S. CEO’s Forum with Ratan Tata and David Cote as co-chairs. With several Indian business leaders arriving here to give a push to the drive to get American business to invest in the Indian economy, the U.S.-India CEO Forum held its meeting on Monday afternoon. ...and I am Sid Harth

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Agni-II-missile-fails-to-cle... Agni-II missile fails to clear night trial TNN 24 November 2009, 12:28am IST BALASORE: India's nuclear-capable intermediate range Agni-II missile, test-fired for the first time after sunset on Monday, reportedly failed to get the desired results. The Army test-fired the surface-to-surface Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) from Wheeler’s Island, Bhadrak district, around 7.50pm.‘‘The liftoff and the first stage separation was smooth. But it faltered just before the second stage separation and behaved erratically, deviating from its coordinated path. Further analysis is on to ascertain the cause,’’ said a source. The entire trajectory of Monday’s trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and a naval ship. The launch, originally scheduled in the first week of this month, was deferred due to some technical snags in its pneumatic system. Though the snags were rectified, another glitch surfaced during Monday’s test, leading to the fiasco, the source claimed. The nuclear capable 2,000-km-plus range missile has a length of 20 meters, a diameter of one meter, weighs 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of around 1,000 kg. It was first tested on April 11, 1999. The test launch was significant from India's strategic point of view because for the first time since the beginning of DRDO’s missile development programme, a missile was put under trial during night. The user trial was conducted by Army officials while scientists from DRDO were present to provide necessary logistical support. ...and I am Sid Harth

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Missile-woman-to-handle-ambi... 'Missile woman' to handle ambitious Agni-V project Rajat Pandit, TNN 1 July 2009, 11:30am IST NEW DELHI: It's indeed rocket science. And Tessy Thomas is going great guns at unravelling all its complexities. Though women and nuclear- capable Tessy Thomas played a crucial role in the successful firing of the 3,500-km range Agni-III missile. (Agency Photo) ballistic missiles usually don't go together, Thomas is systematically breaking all glass ceilings in the avowedly male bastion of `strategic weapons'. Thomas has now been appointed the project director (mission) of India's most ambitious missile, Agni-V, with a strike range of 5,000- km, which is slated to be tested for the first time next year. Thomas, 46, was made the project director of the new advanced version of the 2,500-km Agni-II missile last year after she played a crucial role in the successful firing of the 3,500-km range Agni-III missile as an associate project director, as reported by TOI earlier. Now, she has added another feather to her cap by being assigned to Agni-V, the test-firing of which will propel India towards having potent ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) capabilities, largely the preserve of the Big-5 countries till now. Thomas, contacted by TOI on Tuesday, was reluctant to talk till she `had clearance from the top'. Overall Agni programme director, Avinash Chander, however, was full of praise for her. She is one of the key members of the entire Agni programme,'' he said. The designer for the missile guidance systems, among other things, she is one of the most dedicated scientists in our team. She finds solutions to problems,'' he added. A B.Tech from Thrissur Engineering College, Calicut, and M.Tech from Pune-_base_d Defence Institute of Advanced Technologies, Thomas is an expert on `solid system propellants' which fuel the Agni missiles. _base_d at the Advanced Systems Laboratory in Hyderabad, Thomas has been associated with the Agni programme for around two decades now. Her fascination for `rockets' began with the Apollo moon missions when she was in school at Alappuzha in Kerala. The dream turned to reality when this `missile woman' was assigned to the Agni programme soon after joining DRDO in 1988 by the original `missile man', former President APJ Abdul Kalam. There are around 20 other women scientists working on the Agni programme but Thomas is the first to become a project director of an Agni system. The work on the solid-fuelled Agni-V basically revolves around incorporating a third composite stage in the two-stage Agni-III, along with some advanced technologies like ring laser gyroscope and accelerator for navigation and guidance. The endeavour is to ensure that Agni-V, for which the government has sanctioned around Rs 2,500 crore, is also a canister-launch missile system to ensure it has the requisite operational flexibility to be fired from any part of the country. It will be slightly short of true ICBMs, which have ranges in excess of 5,500 km, but enough to take care of existing `threat perceptions'. ...and I am Sid Harth

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-kicks-off-work-on-adva... India kicks off work on advanced missile defence shield Rajat Pandit, TNN 10 March 2009, 04:02am IST NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the successful testing of its fledgling ballistic missile defence, India is pushing ahead with an ambitious version of the star wars project capable of shooting down incoming ICBMs in the 5,000 km range. The phase-II of the BMD systems, likely to be deployed by 2014, will be an important part of India's defence as both China and Pakistan possess nuclear capable missiles. Once the BMD is in place it will place India in a fairly exclusive club alongside US, Russia and Israel. India will be playing catch up with China which stunned the world by shooting down a weather satellite with a missile in January 2007. Putting in place a system capable of intercepting inter-continental ballistic missiles would enhance India's strategic prowess. While a BMD system can be overwhelmed by a flurry of missiles or a low- flying cruise, it would be a important part of India's defence against the danger of ballistic missiles. If the ongoing Phase-I BMD system is geared to tackling enemy missiles with a 2,000-km range, Phase-II is enhance capacities significantly. Plans are also afoot to have space-_base_d surveillance systems to ensure a hostile threat can be detected even earlier than the present long-range tracking radars (LRTRs) used in the BMD system, which track the `enemy' missile as well as guide the `interceptor' missile in destroying it. Sources said DRDO has told the government that while the Phase-I systems can be deployed from 2012 onwards, the Phase-II systems will come into operational play only from 2014 onwards at the earliest. There will be another interesting spin-off from the indigenous two- tier BMD system, capable of tracking and destroying hostile missiles both inside (endo) and outside (exo) the earth's atmosphere. It will give India a potent anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon since technology required for neutralisation'' of a ballistic missile or a satellite is somewhat similar. India, of course, has received presentations from the three countries which have operational BMD or anti-ballistic missile systems

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/N-capable-Agni-II-missile-su... N-capable Agni-II missile successfully test-fired IANS 19 May 2009, 10:58am IST BHUBANESWAR: India on Tuesday successfully tested the nuclear capable Agni-II missile from a defence _base_ in Orissa, official sources said. The surface-to-surface missile with a range of over 2,000 km was test- fired from the Wheeler's Island near Dhamara in the district of Bhadrak, some 150 km from here at 10.06am. It was a user trial, the sources said, adding that the aim of the test was to give the Army confidence to fire the missile on its own. The Agni II missile, which is a part of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, is 20 metres long. Weighing 16 tonnes, the missile can carry a payload of around 1,000 kg and its range can also be increased to 3,000 km by reducing the pay load. It can be fired from both rail and road mobile launchers. It takes only 15 minutes for the missile to be readied for firing, the sources said, adding that the Agni II-version of the Agni series of missiles was first test-fired in 1999 from the same location. ...and I am Sid Harth

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ICBM-test-to-launch-India-in... ICBM test to launch India into Big Five Rajat Pandit, TNN 14 February 2009, 03:31am IST BANGALORE: India will test its most ambitious strategic missile next year, in what will be its first step towards having potent ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) capabilities, largely the preserve of the Big-5 countries till now. With the design work on the 5,000-km-range Agni-V virtually over now, DRDO chief M Natarajan on Friday said the missile would certainly be tested before December 2010. I am very confident we will be able to do it,'' he said, speaking on the sidelines of the Aero India-2009 show here. The work on the nuclear-capable Agni-V basically revolves around incorporating a third composite stage in the two-stage Agni-III, along with some advanced technologies like ring laser gyroscope and accelerator for navigation and guidance. Agni-III, with a strike range of 3,500-km to accord the capability to strike targets deep inside China, on its part, has been successfully tested only two times till now. Defence scientists want the solid-fuelled Agni-V, for which the government has sanctioned around Rs 2,500 crore, to be a canister- launch missile system to ensure it has the requisite operational flexibility to be fired from any part of the country. Agni-V will be slightly short of true ICBMs, which have ranges in excess of 5,500 km. We have the capability to go in for much higher range but it is for the government to give a go-ahead. At present, we have a green signal for only Agni-V,'' said a scientist. As reported recently by TOI, while China is several leagues ahead, India continues to lag behind even Pakistan in the missile race. At present, only the 150-to-350 km short range Prithvi missile can be said to be fully operational'' in the armed forces. The 700-km Agni-I and 2,000-km Agni-II are still in the process of being inducted into the forces. India, of course, hopes to gate-crash into the very exclusive club of countries like US, Russia and China, which have both ICBM as well as SLBM (submarine-launched ballistic missile) capabilities, by 2010-2011. DRDO is working on the K-15 SLBM, having tested it from submersible pontoon launchers till now, with the aim to integrate it on the indigenous nuclear submarines being built under the secretive ATV (advanced technology vessel) project. Though not in the range of the over 5,000-km SLBMs in the arsenal of US, Russia and China, the 750-km range K-15 will accord India with the desperately-needed third leg of the nuclear weapon triad''. India currently depends on the Agni missiles as well as fighters like Mirage-2000s as its platforms to deliver nuclear weapons. DRDO, of course, is also going to shortly conduct the third test of the fledgling two-tier BMD (ballistic missile defence) system, capable of tracking and destroying incoming hostile missiles both inside (endo) and outside (exo) the earth's atmosphere. The BMD system was tested for the first time in November 2006 when an exo-atmospheric'' hypersonic interceptor missile was used to destroy an enemy'' Prithvi missile at an altitude of 40-50 km. The second time, in December 2007, an endo-atmospheric interceptor'' took on an enemy missile at an altitude of 15-km. After the third test in a month or so, we will test the endo and exo together in an integrated mode later this year,'' said a scientist. ...and I am Sid Harth