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| Nuclear-capable Agni-III test fired | | | India's nuclear-capable intermediate range ballistic missile Agni-III, capable of hitting targets at a distance of 3,500 km, was successfully fired for the first time from a range in the Bay of Bengal on Sunday.
Defence sources said the surface-to-surface missile blasted off from a fixed platform at the Integrated Test Range at Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast at 1105 hours as Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and top defence scientists looked on.
This was the first launch of the Agni-III, the most sophisticated product of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme that started in 1983. The testing of the missile has been repeatedly put off since November 2004 for a variety of reasons.
The countdown began early Sunday morning as scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation prepared for the launch under an overcast sky.
The 16-metre-long and 1.8-metre diameter missile rose majestically into the sky, spewing thick yellow smoke and fire, eyewitnesses said.
Fitted with an onboard computer, it took off vertically into space and re-entered again to the splash-down point near
Nicobar island in the Bay of Bengal, the sources said.
An official spokesman in Delhi said, "The missile took off successfully. Details of the flight performance are being analysed by the mission team."
This is the 10th time that a missile of the Agni series has been launched from the test ranges at Chandipur-on-Sea and Wheeler Island. It was the fifth time that the Agni category of missiles has been tested from Wheeler Island.
Described as the most powerful of India's missiles developed by the DRDO, Agni-III has the capability of carrying a payload of 1000 kg, the sources said.
Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee and his scientific advisor M Natarajan were present at the launch complex located
in the Wheeler Island off the Dhamra coast.
The Agni missile, initially with a range of 700 to 800 km, was first tested from the range at Chandipur-on-Sea on May 22, 1989 in the presence of then defence minister K C Pant. This was followed by two more launches on May 29, 1992 and February 19, 1994.
Agni-II, with the capability to hit targets 2,000 km away, was first fired from the new range at Wheeler Island on April 11, 1999 using a rail mobile platform, sources said.
Both Agni-I and Agni-II have been inducted into the Army as part of the country's minimum nuclear deterrent. Both missiles have boosters developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation, the sources said.
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