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India's Strategic Forces Command troops have successfully user-tested the long-range nuclear-capable Agni-3 ballistic missile that can hit targets over 3,000 km away.
The Agni-3 trials comes close on the heels of another long range nuclear-capable missile Agni-4 that can hit targets at 4,000-km range.
The Agni-3 test was carried out off the Wheeler's Island in the Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast on India's eastern seaboard.
"Agni-3 ballistic missile was successfully launched by India's Strategic Forces Command (SFC) from Wheeler Island, off the coast of Odisha," a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spokesperson said.
"All mission objectives have been achieved," he said, adding that the test was for the strategic forces that operate India's nuclear weapons to gain some practice.
Developed by the DRDO, Agni-3 is already inducted into the Indian armed forces.
This Agni-3 trial happened just two days after the successful trial of the long-range Agni-4.
The indigenously-developed Agni-3 surface-to-air missile can carry a 1.5-tonne warhead and is protected by a carbon all-composite heat shield.
Weighing 48 tonne, the missile is 16 metres long and has a two-stage solid propellant system. It re-enters into the atmosphere with a very high velocity.
Being rail-mobile, Agni-3 can be launched from anywhere in India that has a rail head.
It was tested at Wheeler's Island from a mobile launcher at Launch Complex-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR).
The trajectory of the trial was monitored for data analysis through telemetry stations, electro-optic systems and sophisticated radars located along the coast, and by naval ships anchored near the impact point.
"It is the fifth test in the Agni-III series carried out to establish the 'repeatability' of the state-of-the-art missile's performance," a DRDO scientist was quoted as saying.
India has two more missiles in the Agni series - Agni-1 and Agni-2. While Agni-1 has a range of 800 km, Agni-2 can hit targets at 1,500-km range. These two Agni-series missiles too have been inducted in the armed forces. |