Hyderabad: Dr Ram Narain Agarwal, acknowledged as the ‘Father of Agni Missiles’, passed away at the age of 84 here on Thursday.
The renowned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) missile scientist, popularly known as ‘AgniWall’ and ‘Agniman’, played a leading role in India’s long-range ballistic missile programme from its inception in 1983.
The first Programme Director of Agni programme, Agarwal was the founder-director of the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), Hyderabad.
Agni, developed in India, consists of medium to intercontinental range ballistic missiles which are long-range, nuclear weapons capable, surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
Agni-I, the first missile of the series, was developed under Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (lGMDP) and tested in 1989.
Seven missiles have been inducted in the Agni series till November 2019 and are in service.
Senior serving and former DRDO scientists condoled Dr Agarwal’s death and paid rich tributes to the Padma Bhushan-awardee.
Former DRDO chief and missile scientist Dr G Satheesh Reddy said the country has lost a legend.
Born in Jaipur, Agarwal completed his Masters in Aerospace engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
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