India on Friday successfully test-fired indigenously developed surface-to-surface, nuclear capable Agni-III ballistic missile from the Wheeler Island off Orissa coast, nearly 200 km from here.
The flight-test of Agni-III came just two days after the successful trial of the long-range Agni-IV missile which has got a strike range of 4,000 km.
The 17-metre long missile took off at 1.15 pm from a mobile launcher at Launch Complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island.
With a strike range of 3,000 km, Agni-III can carry a warhead of 1.5 tonne protected by a “carbon all composite heat shield.”
The trajectory of the trial was monitored for data analysis through telemetry stations, electro-optic systems and sophisticated radars located along the coast, and by naval ships anchored near the impact point, they said.
“It was the fifth test in the Agni-III series carried out to establish the ‘repeatability’ of the state-of-the-art missile’s performance. It met all mission objectives,” a scientist of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Indian Army with logistic support from DRDO carried out the launch operation.
Powered by a two-stage solid propellant system, the missile with a diameter of 2 metres has got a launch weight of 50 tonnes.