'India can develop missile systems faster'

India is now in a position to develop missile systems at a much faster rate as high levels of synergy have been reached with private industry, top Missile scientist Dr VK Saraswat said on Wednesday.

"The standard cycle for development of a missile is in the range of 3 to 7 years. But the country is now capable of delivering it much earlier as the basic building blocks for producing and deployment of long-range missile are in place," Saraswat said on the sidelines of a conference on advances in sensors for aerospace applications.

Saraswat's remarks assume significance in the backdrop of the Defence Research and Development Organisation engaged in development of a wide range of missiles ranging from surface to surface Prithvi and Agni, surface to air Akash and sea-faring Danush missiles.

He also reiterated that the stage is set to develop the next level of ballistic missile, the Agni-IV, capable of hitting targets up to 6,000 kms away.

"We are at the designing stage of Agni-IV. It will be much better than Agni-III in terms of performance. Whenever the country wants it, we will deliver," Saraswat, chief controller (R&D), Missile and Strategic Systems said.

"The trials for it will be conducted after completing the review of configuration and designs," he said but declined to give any time frame for testing the missiles, which would have almost intercontinental reach.

"Depending upon national requirement and priority, we will develop the next levels of missiles in a much shorter time. The increased capability of the private industry, which has now emerged as a co-developer of the sub-systems of missiles, is helping us in cutting down development time," he said.

Making it clear that development of Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles was not one of India's priorities, the scientist said, "We do not need to build ICBMs to defend ourselves".

Saraswat said the DRDO was planning to carry out two more trials of Agni-III, the indigenously developed two-stage all-solid fuel, 16-metre-long missile which has a range of 3,000 kms. It was first successfully test-fired in April, after an initial test failure.

The missile, with a range of 3,000 kms and capacity to carry a nuclear or conventional payload of 1.5 tonnes will give India the capability to reach remote Chinese mainland cities of Beijing and Shanghai.