'Secret' Test Of India's 3,000-km n-SLBM Revealed

The K-4 surfaces! Well, properly at least. There's been a sudden rush of reports through this week on the secretive -- and largely missed (except for this Times Of India report) -- launch of India's K-4 long range submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). The maiden test launch, from an underwater pontoon launch platform, reportedly took place on March 24 in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Visakhapatnam.

Friend Vishal Thapar over at The Sunday Guardian has this piece out today on the 'secretive' test of the 3,000-km range nuclear capable missile. Two days before that, The Hindu's trusty T.S Subramanian reported on the successful test that took place a little less than two months earlier. It was, however, network colleague Sandeep Unnithan who conducted this comprehensive outing of the K-4 and its cousins way back in 2010 (infographic seen here from the original piece), providing the first solid details about the K family of weapons.

The DRDO's decision to conduct the test in secret isn't surprising, though they weren't quite so shy [video] in January last year when they flew the K-4's smaller cousin, the 750-km range K-15 from a similar underground launch platform in the same test range. (In 2010, I'd also scooped this picture of the R-glass composite cannister for the K-15 missile.)

The DRDO doesn't want to say much yet about the K-4. If they do, it'll be up here first.

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