BHUBANESWAR: Achieving yet another milestone, India on Sunday successfully test-fired inter-continental range ballistic missile Agni-V from a defence base off Odisha coast inching closer towards its early induction in the armed forces.
Indigenously developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the weapon system capable of delivering nuclear warhead with high precision blasted off from a hermetically sealed canister at Abdul Kalam Island of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 9.50 am.
Defence sources said the missile was fired in full operational configuration and it covered over 4,800 km in 19 minutes. “The successful trial is a major boost to the deterrent capabilities of the country. The Made-in-India weapon system proved its robustness paving the way for induction and production,” said an official.
It was a user associate trial of the missile. As the missile is expected to be inducted in the armed forces soon, personnel of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC), specially raised to handle Agni-V, were present during the operations to get acquainted with the system and trained.
The mission team celebrated the moment as the missile pierced into the sky, spewing thick yellow and white smoke. This was the sixth test of the missile and the second this year. All the six missions have been successful in a row proving the repeatability of the most complex and potent missile system.
The flight performance of the indigenously built missile has been tracked and monitored by radars, range stations and eletro-optical tracking systems all through its trajectory. All objectives of the mission have been successfully met.
The missile, powered by three stage solid rocket motors demonstrated a flawless spectacular launch in auto mode and followed its entire trajectory in textbook manner, dropping the three motors at predefined stages into the Bay of Bengal.
“The test reaffirms the country’s indigenous missile capabilities and further strengthens our credible deterrence. It has now matured. The missile reached its destination in the Australian waters after attaining the perfect altitude. It will have to undergo one more test before induction,” the official added.
Agni-V is the country’s first intercontinental range ballistic missile which is capable of hitting targets in all Asian countries and parts of Africa and Europe. The 17-meter long, 2-meter wide, three-stage, solid-fuelled missile can carry a payload of 1.5 tonne and weighs around 50 tonne.
The canister version of the missile makes it more stable, fast reacting and much more agile with a very quick response time. Missiles kept in canister can deceive enemy radars and even spy satellites which would fail to detect whether there is a missile.
The DRDO is now working on integrating the long range missiles with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MITRV) capable of delivering multiple warheads at different targets.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Manoj Sinha, Jayant Singha and Rajyavardhan Rathore have congratulated all DRDO scientists, staff, armed forces and industries for the success of Agni-V mission.