New Delhi (ISJ): India test-fired its long-range Agni III missile with a range of over 3000 kms on Monday (Dec. 23) from Wheelers Island, off the eastern Odisha coast.
The missile, which was fired from a rail mobile launcher by the Strategic Forces Command, hit the target with ?pin point accuracy,? according to an official statement. This was the sixth trial of Agni III and the fifth consecutive success with the users conducting two trials.
?The trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships from its launch till the missile hit the target area with pin point accuracy,? said the statement.
The missile reached an altitude of 380 km and withstood searing temperatures as it re-entered the atmosphere and impacted the target point after flying for about 800 seconds.
Agni III missile is equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system and guided by an innovative guidance scheme.
?Such successful training launches clearly indicate our operational readiness to meet any eventuality as also establishes the reliability of this deterrent component of India?s Strategic arsenal,? said a spokesman of the Strategic Forces Command.
Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO developed Agni series of missiles under its Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme launched in 1991. These are long range, nuclear weapons capable surface to surface ballistic missiles. Three variants have since been tested and operationalised ? Medium Range Ballistic Missile, Agni-I with a range of 700-1,250 km, Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles, Agni II with a range of 2,000-3,000 km, and Agni III with 3,500-5,000 km range.
Agni IV, with a range of 3,000-4,000 km was first tested in 2011 and again successfully test-fired in September 2012 for its full range of 4,000 km. It is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, including indigenously developed ring laser gyro and composite rocket motor.
Agni V is a solid fuelled Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), with a reach of more than 5,000 km. The missile was first tested in April 2012 and the second test was conducted in September, 2013.
India is also developing Agni-VI, in the genre of ICBMs, with a strike-range of 8,000-10,000 km, capable of being launched from submarines and land.
