Sagarika adds more thrust to India's armoury

India scripted its name among the selected group of five countries Russia, US, France, Britain and China after successfully test firing its first undersea nuclear ballistic missile Sagarika on Tuesday from a pontoon off the coast of Vishakhapatnam.

Developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Hyderabad, the submarine to surface missile weighs 7 tons and is 8.

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5 metre long with a diameter of one metre, the missile has a range of 700km. It is propelled by solid propellants and can carry a payload of 500kg. Specifically the missile can be launched from different ground including from the ground, underwater and mobile launchers.

Earlier too the missile was test fired but was hailed as partially successful because of trajectory deviation, but this time it spun a success story.

With a target of few years the missile will be able to get launched from nuclear powered submarines which are under construction in Kalpakkam and Vishakhapatnam as India presently lack such submarines hence pontoon was used to launch the missile. The missile with latest technologies in aerodynamics, control and guidance and navigation is slated to undergo sea trials next year.

It was a day to reckon the country’s success story on India’s defence capabilities, if the data collected shows a significant report India will be completing triad with this underwater missile in addition to its other success in terms of land and air.

Earlier in December last year India test fired indigenously build interceptor missile called Advance Air Defence (AAD) which has a capacity to destroy incoming hostile ballistic missiles.