India on Sunday successfully test-fired its medium-range nuclear-capable Agni-II missile with a strike range of more than 2000 km from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast as part of a user trial by the army.
“The trial of the surface-to-surface missile was conducted from a mobile launcher,” defence officials said.
Describing the test of the state-of-the-art missile as fully successful, ITR Director MVKV Prasad said, “It was a user trial conducted by the army.”
Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) has already been inducted into the services and today’s test was carried out by the specially formed Strategic Forces Command of the Army as part of training exercise with logistic support provided by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the officials said.
According to reports, the medium-range missile is equipped with an advanced high-accuracy navigation system and guided by a state-of-the-art command and control system which is powered by a solid rocket propellant system.
The 20-metre long Agni-II missile is a two-stage, solid-propelled ballistic missile. It has a launch weight of 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of 1000 kg over a distance of more than 2,000 km.
The missile’s range could be increased to 3,000 kilometres by reducing its payload, the report said, adding that the missile could be fired from both rail and road mobile launchers.
The Agni-II ballistic missile would take only 15 minutes to be readied for firing. India has first successfully test-fired Agni-II prototype in 1999.
