Bhubaneswar:India on Thursday test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-I strategic ballistic missile from the Integrated Test Range on Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast. The indigenously developed surface-to-surface single-stage missile was test
fired from a rail mobile launcher from Launch Pad-4 of the ITR, 100 kms off the
Orissa coast. The missile has a highly specialised navigation system which ensures it
reaches the target
with a high degree of accuracy, he said. The entire trajectory of the missile,
which has an operational striking range of 700 km, was tracked by sophisticated
radars and electro-optic telemetry stations. Weighing 12 tonnes, the 15-metre-long
Agni-1, which can carry payloads up to 1000 kg, has already been inducted into
the Indian Army. Agni-1 was developed by advanced systems laboratory (ASL), the
premier missile development laboratory of Defence Research Development
Organisation
(DRDO) in collaboration with Defence Research Development Laboratory (DRDL)
and
Research Centre Imarat (RCI). It is integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL)
Hyderabad.
