DRDO Developed Agni II, the pride of India’s strategic arsenal was once again launched successfully this morning at 9:30 hrs from the Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa. The launch was a hattrick after successful launches of Shourya and Prithivi-II, on 24th and 26th September, 2011 respectively. The successful launch once again proved reliability of the Medium Range Surface-to-Surface Missile...  

Within a span of two days, India demonstrated the reliability of two surface-to-surface missiles by successfully test-firing nuclear-weapons capable Shaurya and Prithvi-II ballistic systems on saturday(24th september) and Monday(26th september).

Shaurya, a nuclear-capable surface-to-surface medium range missile, was test-fired from Chandipur-on-sea off the Orissa coast at 2.30 PM on Saturday. The missile with a maximum range of 750 km was test-fired from an underground silo at Integrated Test Range of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO)... 

Tejas (LCA) , India's very own Light Combat Aircraft has achieved an important milestone by gaining Initial Operational Clearance (IOC)  in December 2010 . This has authenticated the Indian aircraft's airworthiness. The birth of India's first fighter aircraft is thus certified. So far, 1,659 flight tests have been completed.

LCA, Tejas Phase-ll Programme (Air Force version) was sanctioned in November 2001 at a cost`of Rs.3301.78 Cr. with Probable Date of Completion (PDC) of December 2008. The project is likely to be completed by December 2012 with an additional cost of Rs.2475.78 Cr. The additional cost is to meet the expanded scope of the programme, increased cost of materials, manpower, maintenance of facilities, etc. 

Indian Air Force has ordered 40 Tejas Mk-I aircraft (20 aircraft in IOC and 20 aircraft in FOC standard). Two aircraft will be ready by March 2012 for induction.

It is yet another successful launch for the ISRO's workhorse PSLV. India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C17) successfully launched GSAT-12 communication satellite today (July 15, 2011) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch of PSLV-C17 was the eighteenth successive successful flight of PSLV out of total nineteen flights.

After a smooth countdown of 53 hours, the vehicle lifted-off from the Second Launch Pad at the opening of the launch window at 16:48 hrs (IST). After about 20 minutes of flight time, GSAT-12 was successfully injected into sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (sub-GTO) with a perigee of 284 km and an apogee of 21,020 km with an orbital inclination of 17.9 deg.

One of the most striking speeches made by Jawhar Lal Nehru when India got Freedom - " At the stroke of Midnight hour , when the world is sleeping.. India awakens.." . And being a weekend I was just awake to see one the most unwarrented happenings against democracy. Around 0100 hrs , when most of the people are about to sleep switching off the TVs - started the drama .