The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) was an Indian Ministry of Defence programme for the research and development of the comprehensive range of missiles. The programme was managed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Ordnance Factories Board in partnership with other Indian government political organisations. The project started in 1982–83 under the leadership of Abdul Kalam who oversaw its ending in 2008 after these strategic missiles were successfully developed. On 8 January 2008, the DRDO formally announced the successful rated guided missile programme was completed with its design objectives achieved since most of the missiles in the programme had been developed and inducted by the Indian Armed Forces.
History
By the start of the 1980s, the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) had developed competence and expertise in the fields of propulsion, navigation and manufacture of aerospace materials based on the Soviet rocketry technologies. Thus, India's political leadership, which included Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Defence Minister R. Venkataraman and V.S. Arunachalam, the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, decided that all these technologies should be consolidated. This led to the birth of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme with Dr. Abdul Kalam, who had previously been the project director for the SLV-3 programme at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was inducted as the DRDL Director in 1983 to conceive and lead it. While the scientists proposed the development of each missile consecutively, the Defence Minister R. Venkataraman asked them to reconsider and develop all the missiles simultaneously. Thus, four projects, to be pursued concurrently, were born under the IGMDP:
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam started multiple projects simultaneously to develop the following types of Indian Guided Missiles missiles. Short Range Surface to Surface Missile (SSM) ‘Prithvi’ Long Range Surface to Surface Missile (SSM) ‘Agni’ Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (SAM) ‘Akash’ Short Range Surface to Air Missile (SAM) ‘Trishul’ Anti-tank Guided Missile (ATGM) ‘Nag’ The Agni missile was initially conceived in the IGMDP as a technology demonstrator project in the form of a re-entry vehicle, and was later upgraded to a ballistic missile with different ranges. As part of this program, the Interim Test Range at Balasore in Odisha was also developed for missile testing.
Hurdles
After India test-fired the first Prithvi missile in 1988, and the Agni missile in 1989, the Missile Technology Control Regime (then an informal grouping established in 1987 by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) decided to restrict access to any technology that would help India in its missile development program. To counter the MTCR, the IGMDP team formed a consortium of DRDO laboratories, industries and academic institutions to build these sub-systems, components and materials. Though this slowed down the progress of the program, India successfully developed indigenously all the restricted components denied to it by the MTCR.
Regional influence
The starting of India's missile program influenced Pakistan to scramble its resources to meet the challenge. Like India, Pakistan faced hurdles to operationalize its program since education on space sciences was never sought. It took Pakistan decades of expensive trial errors before their program became feasible for military deployment.
Prithvi
The Prithvi missile (from Sanskrit पृथ्वी pṛthvī "Earth") is a family of tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) and is India's first indigenously developed ballistic missile. Development of the Prithvi began in 1983, and it was first test-fired on 25 February 1988 from Sriharikota, SHAR Centre, Pottisreeramulu Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh. It has a range of up to 150 to 300 km. The land variant is called Prithvi while the naval operational variant of Prithvi I and Prithvi III class missiles are code named Dhanush (meaning "Bow"). Both variants are used for surface targets. The Prithvi is said to have its propulsion technology derived from the Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missile. Variants make use of either liquid or both liquid and solid fuels. Developed as a battlefield missile, it could carry a nuclear warhead in its role as a tactical nuclear weapon.
The initial project framework of the IGMDP envisioned the Prithvi missile as a short-range ballistic missile with variants for the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy. Over the years the Prithvi missile specifications have undergone a number of changes. The Prithvi I class of missiles were inducted into the Indian Army in 1994, and it is reported that Prithvi I missiles are being withdrawn from service, being replaced with Prahar missiles. Prithvi II missiles were inducted in 1996. Prithvi III class has a longer-range of 350 km, and was successfully test fired in 2004.
Agni re-entry technology A technology demonstrator for re-entry technology called Agni was added to IGMDP as Prithvi was unable to be converted to a longer ranged missile. The first flight of Agni with re-entry technology took place in 1989. The re-entry system used resins and carbon fibres in its construction and was able to withstand a temperature of up to 3000 °C. The technologies developed in this project were eventually used in the Agni series of missiles. The United States would later accuse India that it's SLV-3 rocket was a copied derivative of the Scout rocket, and the Agni-I and Agni-II missiles (with SLV-3 design heritage) combined it with a liquid fuelled stage from an SA-2 missile. The US would also claim German,French and Russian complancy for the rocket, with the Germans supplying most major technologies and the testing wind-tunnel models. The Indian scientists have opposed it, stating that the rocket was built for peaceful exploration purposes..
Trishul
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
