India’s 5,000 km, Agni-V ballistic missile to fly in December

New Delhi: In track with its long-term plan to develop a family of ballistic missiles that will address India's tactical and strategic security issues, India will carry out the first development flight of the long range Agni-V missile in December this year. This was stated by DRDO chief and scientific advisor to the defence minister , Dr VK Saraswat, in New Delhi on Tuesday.

''The first development flight of Agni-V will be in the month of December this year... Agni-V will take us to a level of 5,000-km plus class of missile systems which meets all our threat requirements,'' Dr Saraswat said.

He was speaking on the side-lines of the inaugural ceremony of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), a premier DRDO lab working in the area of physiological development of soldiers of the armed forces.

Replying to a question on whether DRDO is planning to develop Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), Dr Saraswat said, ''We are not developing any ICBM. Our threat perception today does not require development of any ICBM.''

This reply is a mere formality as for some unexplained reason India is always chary of attracting unnecessary attention towards its ballistic missile programme and goes to inordinate lengths to underplay its potency.