DRDO investing Rs1,000 crore in weapon testing facilities

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the country's premier research organisation for the defence services, will invest around Rs1,000 crore to crate new testing and validation facilities over the next two to three years.

DRDO will be investing in a full-fledged missile launch control center in Port Blair and a hypersonic wind tunnel facility near Hyderabad, besides a hi-tech electronic range and a centre for testing and calibration of materials in Andhra Pradesh, official sources said.

''These facilities will improve the country`s capabilities in testing missiles, electronic components, materials, systems etc,'' Avinash Chander, chief controller (R&D), missiles and strategic systems, DRDO, said.

These facilities will support new and ongoing projects like the expanding missile project and quality assurance of components used in the various weapon systems produced for the defence forces.

DRDO is all set to test-fly India's first inter continental ballistic missile – the 5,000-km Agni-5 by the middle of this month.

"The Agni-5 will be launched in mid-April. The date of launch has not yet been finalised but it will be done within a week. The missile will have a range of more than 5,000 km," DRDO chief V K Saraswat said at a press conference last week.