The Hindu : Raising of two Agni missile groups cleared

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 24, 2003

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Raising of two Agni missile groups cleared

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 23 . Eight years after creating a specialised regiment to handle short-range missiles, the Government has cleared the setting up of similar groups for intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBM), a new magazine on defence issues has reported. Senior Army officials said the report was more or less correct. The Defence Minister, George Fernandes, had also hinted at such an initiative while replying to questions in Parliament but the magazine, Force, carries a more detailed account.

According to the journal, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had cleared the raising of the two Agni missile groups. Control on the shorter range IRBM, Agni-I with a range of 700 km, will vest with the Army's 334 rocket missile group and the medium range Agni-II with a range of 1,500 km will be handled by the 335 missile group.

The Government has also cleared the raising of two new Prithvi groups for the Army, which would be named 444 and 555 missile groups.

The Army has deployed two Prithvi missile groups 222 and 333. While it is going ahead with the raising of new missile groups for the longer-range missiles, the creation of the additional short-range missile will await financial allocation by the Government.

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