India on Sunday successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-1 missile from the Wheelers' Island, a defence base in the Bay of Bengal on Orissa coast."It was the second user's trial of this sophisticated missile," officials associated with the trial said. The last trial was conducted on October 5, 2007 from the same launch site.
The indigenously built sleek missile with a range of 700-800 km and mounted on a mobile launcher, had a perfect launch from the launch complex no. 4 of the Integrated Test Range at 1015 hrs hours, defence sources said.
| 700 km is just enough range to hit anywhere in Pakistan. Single stage, solid fuel, carbon composite casing, rail/road mobile with a maneuvering RV. |
Personnel from the country's newly raised Strategic Forces Command (SFC) along with scientists from the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) carried out Sunday's trial in order to ensure familiarisation with the end operator, that is a special missile group 334 raised by the Indian Army, the sources said.