India successfully test fires Agni V ballistic missile

New Delhi, Apr 19 (PTI) India today took a major leap in its strategic capability by successfully test-firing its nuclear capable, 5000 km-range Agni-V missile, joining an elite missile club of the US, Russia, France and China, which produce Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). The missile was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range in Wheeler Island in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of the southeast Indian state of Odisha (formerly Orissa). The surface-to-surface Agni-V is capable of striking a target more than 5,000 km away. It is about 17-metres-long and two-metres-wide with launch weight of around 50 tonnes. The sophisticated missile can carry a nuclear warhead of more than one tonne. This is the first time India has produced a missile that has brought the entire China within its range and it is being considered a big deterrent capability. "We had a successful launch of Agni-V. The missile lifted off at 8.07 hours (IST, GMT + 05.30) today," Defence Research and Development Organisation chief V K Saraswat said at site after the three-stage solid propellant missile was test fired from launch complex-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast. "It was a perfect launch and the missile hit the pre-determined target and the mission met all its parameters," ITR Director S P Dass said. "We can call it an ICBM as it has the capability to travel from one continent to another," Dass added. "This launch has given a message to the entire world that India has the capability to design, develop, build and manufacture missiles of this class, and we are today a missile power," Saraswat said. "We are going to conduct two more tests and that will be validation tests ..., and then the production of this system will start. It is going to take a year maximum," he said. Saraswat said that he expected the missile to be inducted into the armed forces in the next two years. Hailing the successful launch of the indigenously developed missile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it represents another milestone in India's quest to add to its security preparedness. "The nation stands tall today. We have joined the elite club of nations (to possess the ICBM capability)," India's Defence Minister A K Antony told Saraswat on phone after the test flight of the missile was declared successful. The test-fire, which was originally scheduled to be held yesterday, had to be deferred at the last moment for safety reasons due to bad weather marked by rains and heavy lightning. India has at present in its armoury of Agni series, Agni 1 with 700 km range, Agni 2 with 2,000 km range, Agni 3 and Agni 4 with 2,500 km to more than 3,500 km range. Preparation for Agni-V test had gathered momentum after India achieved successful results from the first development trial of Agni IV, which has a strike range of more than 3,500 km, from the same launch pad on November 15, 2011. Top scientists present at the test site said at least 20 laboratories of the DRDO were engaged for several months to prepare the state-of-the-art missile. Unlike other missiles of indigenously built Agni series, the latest one - Agni V - is the most advanced version having several new technologies incorporated in it in terms of navigation and guidance, warhead and engine, said a scientist associated with the project. PTI