Ram Narain Agarwal, regarded as the 'father of Agni missiles' in India, died recently at Hyderabad.
He had served as the Agni programme director and also as the director of ASL (Advanced Systems Laboratory) in Hyderabad.
He led India's Agni missile programme from its inception in 1983 until his retirement in 2005.
The Centre conferred him with Padma Shri in the year 1990 and Padma Bhushan in 2000.
The Agni missile is the most ambitious of the five missiles sought to be developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme launched by the Union government in 1983.