India successfully test fired Agni-I ballistic missile

India successfully tests fired indigenously developed nuclear capable Agni-I (A) ballistic missile from Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast today at 8.30 AM. The test was conducted by the Strategic Force Command of Indian Army.

The state-of-the-art missile was launched around 8.30 am from a mobile launcher at Pad 4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at the Dr Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, the sources said. Describing the trial a "complete success", they said that all the mission objectives were met during the test.

"The trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships right from its launch till the missile hit the target area with pinpoint accuracy," Agni- I which can hit a target 700 km away, as part of a user trial by Army from a test range off Odisha coast. The surface-to-surface missile, powered by solid propellants, was test-fired from a mobile launcher at 10.10 AM from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island (Wheeler Island), defence officials said.

The missile with a length of 4.8 m and diameter of 1.3 m, is powered by both solid and liquid propellants which imparts it a speed of 2.5 km per second. Agni-I, having a height of 15 metres, can be launched from both road and rail mobile launchers. It weighs around 12 tonnes and can carry both conventional and nuclear payload of about 1000 kg was test-fired. Agni Missiles are long range, nuclear weapons capable surface to surface ballistic missile. The Agni missile family comprises three deployed variants while two more variants are under testing. The Agni-I has 700-km range, Agni-II 2,000-km range, Agni-III and Agni-IV have 3,500-km range. Agni-VI has range between 5,000-8,000 km.