‘Pakistan missile project ahead of India’s’

[Judas Iscariote]

‘Pakistan missile project ahead of India’s’

NEW DELHI, Jan 9: India’s missile scientists have said that the country’s indigenous missile programme is flagging and needs foreign assistance to revive it.

The embarrassing admission came amid claims by Indian analysts that Pakistan’s missile programme had proved to be more robust and surefooted than India’s. The Mail Today newspaper on Wednesday quoted the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as announcing that it would scrap its 25-year Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) by the end of this year.

“Plagued by cost overruns and repeated failures, the announcement is a virtual admission of failure,” the newspaper said. “In fact, some former chiefs of the different services said as much on hearing the news.”

Speaking of the Trishul surface-to-air missile that has now been termed a technology demonstrator, former naval chief Sushil Kumar said: “It was a national embarrassment. DRDO made fake claims for 25 years. In the 1999 Kargil conflict, the navy was vulnerable to attacks from Pakistan’s Harpoon.

“Finally the project was scrapped when the navy went in for the Israeli Barak missiles. The Prithvi’s naval variant, Dhanush, is also flawed and ill-conceived, which is being inflicted on the navy.”On the Akash missile, which was the subject of the DRDO media conference here on Tuesday, former air chief S. P. Tyagi said: “Akash was to be ready at a certain time, but it wasn’t. I had to change everything to make up for the delay.” Both missiles were part of a programme to develop indigenous weapons, which began in July 1983, with plans for Agni, Prithvi, Trishul, Akash and Nag missiles.

The IGMDP, which was aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in missile development and production, comprises five core missile programmes -- the strategic Agni ballistic missile, the tactical Prithvi ballistic missile, the Akash and Trishul surface-to-air missiles and the Nag anti-tank guided missile.

The Mail Today quoted S. Prahlada, chief of the Control Research and Development, DRDO, as saying that development and production of most of the futuristic weapon systems would henceforth be undertaken with foreign collaboration.

With regard to the nuclear-capable Agni series, comprising I and II, the newspaper quoted army sources as saying while they had been tested five times each “a handful of tests are not enough to prove a missile’s worth”.

There were different problems with other systems too.

“Pakistan has always been one step ahead of India in its missile programme,” the newspaper said, adding that Islamabad has “a much more robust missile force than India, one capable of launching nuclear weapons to any part in this country.”

Unlike Indian missiles, which were declared “inducted” after a few tests, the Pakistani projectiles have always been thoroughly tested.

‘Pakistan missile project ahead of India’s’ -DAWN - Top Stories; January 10, 2008

[Plasma]

Good news for Pakistan!

[mujahideen]

Great news to hear, I wish our scientists all the best and hope that as advance as our program might be may the scientist work on it constantly to advance it even more. The defence of Pakistan should not lack behind.

[yarmook]

Any Indian to come and proof this to be wrong!

[PakistaniPatriot]

Actually I don't really believe this. I mean India is a highly literate country and is moving forward very rapidly. Be it economy, education, sports, entertainment, etc. I mean I don't think this is very bad. They have been focusing more on their space programs and it has been showing. Their education and industrial sector is far more better than Pakistan's.
A coin has 2 sides. One is good, one is bad.

[hoodhood1]

Well! the Indians in our Forum did not believe this from day one. Here it is in Black & White.

[AgNoStIc MuSliM]

To paraphrase someone on another forum - this isn't so much about Pakistan's missile program being more advanced, it is more a validation of the Pakistani approach of collaborative development - something that would never really have been an issue except for the taunts of "indigenous products".

In certain respects India's missile program is more advanced than ours - Akash, the AAD, and the progress on the Agni, with foreign collaboration lets say, does overshadow Pakistan at this point in time. Some of you may suggest that the Shaheen 3 or Tipu or Ghauri X will match the Agni, but we have no official confirmation of that, while there is information on the Agni, and we have no official confirmation of an Air defense system, though some sources have mentioned some systems being fielded in competition with some of the European systems.

So, validation of the Pakistani approach - yes. A validation of the superiority of the Pakistani program - I don't think so, not yet at least. We may spring some surprises in the near future though. That’s one thing quite irritating about having such a secretive military, us defense buffs are left scrounging for scraps of information from this or that source, while development information on most of the Indian programs is pretty public.

[irfan1173]

AoA
AgNoStIc MuSliM good post. Most of the actual specs of missiles are classified. We all know payload can make hell of a difference to the range of the missile.Info like CEP of missile are not known and what are published may not be actually true. As you said our program is more secretive, so for a newspaper to come and say that A better than B is nothing but a stupid writing for an agenda whatever it may be. We all blame western and pakistani media to be sell out I guess the indians can also say for whoever wrote that article. I know it makes us all feel good but my feel is the article is trash . A comparison of a missile with a missile may be possible if all the required parameters are available but to compare programs involving missile with different ranges, types is nothing but fool hardy.

[Karma]

An usual article from the Pakistani news agency for the local population to make them feel that India admits its failures and Pakistan is ahead of India in defence. The author tried his best to make the readers feel that Indians admitting the failures.

How many times a Pakistan's missile is tested, before it is inducted?

The project is not scrapped, but closed. Agni I and II is inducted. Agni III is in final stage and will be inducted sooner. Akash is cleared for induction. Prithvi is inducted. Nag, Astra and Trishul may be a failure, but made some achievements. I think that 25 years is a reasonable time to develope these missiles for a country which does not have experience or infrastructure. There is no unnecessary cost overruns. Since, the private sectors were not allowed, the DRDO had to set up every infrastructure required for this project. Now the infrastructure is there and private sector is allowed, so the future developments will be shorter and cheaper.

The entire missile program is not closed. Only the IGMDP is closed. The developement of long range missiles will continue with other programes.

[WebMaster]

How many times a Pakistan's missile is tested, before it is inducted?

For your information. This have certain parameters, and once the missiles meets those parameters, only then the missile is inducted. So far there hasn't been a case where the missile doesn't meet the requirements of the strategic forces.

Nag, Astra and Trishul may be a failure, but made some achievements

Not may be, but 100% failure. Because a failure = failure.

Thanks.

[Karma]

Originally Posted by WebMaster

For your information. This have certain parameters, and once the missiles meets those parameters, only then the missile is inducted. So far there hasn't been a case where the missile doesn't meet the requirements of the strategic forces.

Thats what I want to say.

Originally Posted by WebMaster

Not may be, but 100% failure. Because a failure = failure.

How do you know thats 100% failure? Did you test them of your own?

[Plasma]

Where you there when they tested it? How can you say its not a complete failure, because that is a baseless claim as well. And from the article it sounds like that even if there was some advancement, it didn't help much because they have scraped the plans and will be looking for foreign help.

[doobie87]

Seems a little hard to believe, firstly im sure the Indian missile program has much more money pumped into it, while this might not necessarily mean that indian missiles are technologically superior I doubt a country that launches it's own satellites and is planning on going to the moon would lag behind in it's missile research. Finally, the source is a pakistani newspaper, i sincerely doubt it's credibility because given the current state of turmoil in the country and musharaff's tendency to do as he pleases the newspaper would print anything contrary to the above article.

[AgNoStIc MuSliM]

Karma and Others:

The article was originally sourced from an Indian publication:

MAIL TODAY ePaper

With respect to the Indian space program - isn't that a result of collaboration with the Russians (the original SLV's etc)? If so, it also complements the argument that collaborative development, that has been ridiculed by so many when Pakistan was doing it, has been behind most of India's successful programs as well.

[WebMaster]

Originally Posted by Karma

Thats what I want to say.



How do you know thats 100% failure? Did you test them of your own?

Success is a success. Best technology is the best one, and a failure is a failure. Go google. The free pedia.

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