Ram Narain Agarwal, India's Agni Missile man, passes away at 84

Born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, Agarwal made significant contributions to the Agni missile program, launched in 1983, and served as its first program director. Agarwal was instrumental in India's Agni missile development programme right from its inception in 1983 till 2005.

Hyderabad: Dr Ram Narain Agarwal, 84, acclaimed aerospace scientist and Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee who was instrumental in the development of India's long-range missile Agni, passed away on Thursday at his residence in Hyderabad's Kanchanbagh.

A prominent scientist of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), RN Agarwal, who was fondly called 'Agni Agarwal' and 'AgniWall' by his friends, passed away in Hyderabad due to age-related health issues.

Born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, Agarwal made significant contributions to the Agni missile program, launched in 1983, and served as its first program director. People often referred to him as the "Father of Agni Missiles." Dr Agarwal came to Hyderabad in the early 1960s to join the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL).

Agarwal was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990 and the Padma Bhushan in 2000 for his outstanding contributions to missile technology.

“With profound grief and sorrow, DRDO offers its condolences on the sad demise of Dr. Ram Narain Agarwal, an outstanding aerospace scientist and Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan awardee, who was instrumental in the development of India’s long-range missile, Agni. May his soul rest in peace,” said DRDO.

Dr Agarwal drove the Agni mission as its program director from 1983 until 2005, when he retired as the Director of the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) in Hyderabad. Thereafter, he settled in Hyderabad.

He was the founding director of ASL in Hyderabad. “Dr. Agarwal retired as Director of ASL and led the country’s ambitious Agni missile program for over two decades. He played a key role in establishing the re-entry technology, all composite heat shields, on-board propulsion systems, guidance and control, etc. for missiles,” further said DRDO.

He obtained an engineering degree in aeronautics from the Madras Institute of Technology, Guindy. Later, he did masters and obtained a doctorate from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President of India, also acknowledged Agni's development to R N Agarwal in his biography "Wings of Fire."

He led the first successful launch of the Agni on May 22, 1989. After that, he piloted the development of various versions of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).