India testfires nuclear-capable Agni III ballistic missile

India Thursday successfully testfired its intermediate range, nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile from an island off the coast of the eastern state of Odisha, sources said.

"The testfiring from the Integrated Test Range of Abdul Kalam Island was part of an user trial of the 3,000-km range missile. It was carried out by the Strategic Forces Command with support from the state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization," sources said.

During the test-firing, all the mission objectives were met by the 17-meter tall, home-made missile, the sources said, adding that various parameters and trajectory of Agni-III were tracked and monitored in real time by radars along the east coast.

Agni-III is one of the sophisticated and accurate missiles of its class and has already been inducted into armed forces. It is capable of carrying a payload weighing 1.5 tons to a distance of more than 3,000 km.

Developed as the successor to Agni-II, Agni-III is equipped with sophisticated navigation, guidance and control systems along with advanced on-board computer systems. The electronic systems are hardened for higher vibration, thermal and acoustic effects.

The ballistic missile has two stages with an overall diameter of 2 meters. Initially, the first stage mass was about 32 tons and 7.7 meters long, while the second stage mass was about 10 tons and 3.3 meters long. Later the weight of Agni-III was reduced to 22 tons.