Testfiring of Agni-III missile: Norms were followed, says India

New Delhi

13 April 2007

India's missile testing programme in general and testfiring of Agni-III

in particular followed the requisite safety precautions and prior notice was sent to

relevant agencies of the countries in the region, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

A report in the Kompas newspaper of Indonesia said that the testfiring of Agn-III missile

forced the Indonesian national carrier Garuda to abort its flight. The report mentioned that

the aircraft was ferrying pilgrims to Saudi Arabia and it was in Indian airspace when the

missile streaked across the sky, forcing the plane to turn around. It quoted Garuda

Indonesia Operations Director Ari Sapari as saying that "there was no prior information

about the test".

The spokesman of Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said at an unscheduled news

conference, "A notice was sent a week before the test by the Indian civil aviation

authorities to ATC (Air Traffic Control) Jakarta and other ATCs in the region informing them

about the launch window dates, danger time, zone and height. The ATCs were requested

to take action to issue NOTAM (Notice to Aviators and Mariners) in accordance with

relevant ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) provisions."

The scientific adviser to Defence Minister and chief of Defence Research and

Development Organisation, Dr M Natarajan, told reporters at another news conference

that India has now achieved the capability to develop an inter-continental ballistic

missile to strike at targets 5,500 km away. "DRDO scientists are working on

miniaturising the systems of the Agni-III so that a third stage can be squeezed into the

16-metre-long missile to enable it to go up to 5,500 km with the same 1.5-tonne payload,"

he said.

Mission Director Avinash Chander, who accompanied Dr Natarajan, said that Agni-III

became the first Indian missile to cross the equator. He said that the detonation of the

missile's warhead would be analysed and Agni-III would become "fully operational" after

two or three more launches.