Proud to be a GECT ian

Tessy Thomas, the first 'missile woman' of India
New Delhi, Wed, 14 May 2008 NI Wire

Indian women after serving to various post which were known to be controlled by their male counterparts including the post of Prime minister to President, Police service to the field of aviation here is another newsmaker Tessy Thomas who is been appointed as Project Director for developing the advanced version of Agni II missile.


An expert of solid system propellants which is used in Agni missile, Tessy earlier has worked as Assistant Project Director in successful launch of Agni III Interballistic missile with 3500 range on May 7.

“I like my job. I feel I am contributing to my nation's security,” said at an award function who was facilitated along with the entire team behind Agni III success story by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

She shared the responsibility with other 200 women defence scientist contributing India through Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Her take on the advance form of Agni II which will develop under her guidance was, “It's still a confidential project. It will be called Agni-II-A2.”

After completing B.Tech from Thrissur Engineering College, Kozhikode, and an M.Tech in Guided Missile from Pune, this 45 year old who is also tagged as India's missile woman has also worked with the missile man of India , Dr Abdul Kalam the former president of India.

She has also analysed the reason for the failure of earlier version of Agni III which brought immense help to overcome the shortcomings and successfully launch the Agni III with range of 3,500 km.

She has also become the aspiration of millions of women who want to make career in this field. She is also a reflection of a changing scenario of women in India.