Surface-to-surface Agni-V missile successfully test fired off Odisha

Agni-V was successfully test-fired last time on December 26, 2016.

India successfully test fired Intercontinental 5000-km range surface to surface nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni-V from Abdul Kalam island, earlier known as Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast at 9:53 am on Thursday.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said ballistic missile Agni-V successfully launched nuclear capable. She is in Chennai to attend the Defence Industry Development Meet an initiative to bring together Indian defence manufacturers, policy-makers, representatives from the armed forces from the region to synergize efforts to boost Make In India.

The user associate test-flight of the missile has further boosted indigenous missile capabilities and deterrence strength of the country. All radars, tracking systems and range stations monitored the flight performance, defence sources told PTI.

Describing the trial as "fully successful", the sources said, the sophisticated missile travelled for 19 minutes and covered 4,900 km. The sleek missile was test-fired from a canister launcher, mounted on a mobile platform, at about 9.54 am from No. 4 launch pad of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Abdul Kalam Island, they said.

Agni V is primarily for enhancing India's nuclear deterrence against China. Until recently, the longest range missile India had was Agni-III with a range of 3000-3500 km. This range was not sufficient to reach targets on the extreme eastern and north- eastern region of China. Most of the important economic centres of China lay on its eastern seaboard.

Agni-V was successfully test-fired last time on December 26, 2016.

(With agency inputs)