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Indian missiles free from Y2K bug, says MoD

Indian missiles are free of the Y2K syndrome, the defence ministry said today.

''As far as Indian missiles are concerned they are totally designed, developed and produced in the country and consequently do not have the Y2K problem,'' a defence ministry statement said.

''We would like to confirm that there is no need to get frightened on account of the syndrome,'' the statement asserted.

However, the statement conceded that there was a probability of the Y2K syndrome affecting missiles of foreign origin.

The defence ministry statement is significant in that there have been reports that the missiles could go haywire due to the Y2K problem and may hit targets within the country.

Director general of National Informatics Centre and chief of the prime minister's infotech task force, N Seshagiri, is reported to have said that the Indian industry and the government departments had woken up late to the Y2K problem and that the country had failed to realise the impact of the Y2K syndrome.

Dr Seshagiri is also reported to have said that the defence systems, which were highly computerised, could be the most affected and that there were chances of missiles hitting within the country due to failure in control systems if there was complacency in addressing the Y2K syndrome on a war-footing.

Dr Seshagiri is also reported to have said that the country was behind schedule by about ten months in combating Y2K and that it was impossible to rectify the malfunctioning within the available ten months.

UNI

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