The Surya missile was speculated to be an ICBM being developed by India. The first report about the Surya missile was published by The Nonproliferation Review in 1995.
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According to a report published in The Nonproliferation Review, in the Winter of 1995, Surya (meaning the Sun in Sanskrit and many Indian languages) is the codename for the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that India is reported to be developing.[1] The DRDO is believed to have begun the project in 1994. This report has not been confirmed by any other sources until 2010. Officials of the Indian government have repeatedly denied the existence of the project.
According to the report, the Surya is an intercontinental-range, surface-based, solid and liquid propellant ballistic missile. The report further adds that Surya is the most ambitious project in India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.The Surya is speculated to have a range between 10,000 to 16,000 kilometers.[2]
As the missile is yet to be developed, the specifications of the missile are not known and the entire program continues to remain highly secretive.It is believed to be a three-stage design, with the first two stages using solid propellants and the third-stage using liquid. In 2007, the Times of India reported that the DRDO is yet to reveal whether India's currently proposed ICBM will be called Agni-V.[3] As of 2009 it was reported that the government had not considered an 10,000-km above range ICBM.[1]
Sources say the DRDO's most treasured dream—denied in public—remains the development of an ICBM with a range above 10,000 kilometres, already christened Surya or sun, to match Chinese DF-3 ICBMs that can hit US cities."DRDO scientists are working on miniaturising systems of 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 kilometres with the same 1.5-tonne payload,"DRDO chief M. Natarajan told reporters in New Delhi.[4]
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