SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
World’s fastest cruise missile ‘BrahMos’ successfully test fired
The supersonic cruise missile BrahMos with a strike range of over 290 Km, was on 1 November test fired successfully from the Navy’s newest stealth destroyer, INS Kochi and hit it’s target ‘Allepy’, a decommissioned ship in the Arabian Sea. After two trials from INS Kolkata, test firing from INS Kochi has validated the newly commissioned ship’s system.
Agni-IV missile successfully test-fired
Indian Army’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC) on 9 November 2015 successfully test-fired surface-tosurface Agni-IV missile. The 4000-km range nuclear capable missile was test-fired from Abdul Kalam (Wheeler) Island off the Odisha coast. It is 20 meters in length weighs 17 tonnes and carries a pay load of one tone. It was developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It is the fourth missile in the series of Agni missiles.
India’s Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel – ‘Samarth’ commissioned
India’s coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) ‘Samarth’ was commissioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 10 November, 2015 at Vasco in Goa. It is the Coast guard’s largest OPV. The 105 m OPV is fitted with most advance technology, navigation and communication equipment, sensors and machinery. It has a maximum speed of 23 knots. It will be used in Exclusive Economic Zone.
GSAT-15 successfully launched
GSAT-15, India’s latest com-munications satellite, was laun-ched successfully by the European Ariane 5 VA-227 launch Vehicle on November 11, 2015. The 3164 kg GSAT-15 carries communication transponders in Ku-band and a GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) payload operating in L1 & L5 bands.
Defence satellite EKS Kosmos-2510
Russia’s newest defence satellite named as EKS Kosmos-2510 was successfully launched into space and has been placed into its dedicated orbit. It was launched using Russian Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. EKS Kosmos-2510 is early warning satellite and has been deployed as the first satellite in a new fleet of 10 EKS military satellites to be launched by 2018 to form new defence system to detect enemy missile heading towards Russian territory.