India to fire over 5000 km range Agni V in 2011
By ANIMonday, May 17, 2010
New Delhi, May 17 (ANI): After the successful launch of the Agni II missile, India is all set to test fire its first Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, Agni-V, in Mach-April 2011.
Agni V is being designed by adding a third composite stage to the two-stage 3,500-km Agni-III, having a range of over 5000 km to carry multiple warheads and will have countermeasures against anti-ballistic missile systems.
It is a three-stage solid fuelled missile with composite motor casing in the third stage. Two stages of this missile will be made of composite material. The Agni V will be the first canisterised, road-mobile missile in India.
Buoyed by the success of the Agni II missile, Dr W Selvamurthy, DRDO’s Chief Controller Research and Development, said: “We are now working on Agni V, which has a range capacity of more than 5,000 kilometres. It is a strategic missile being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.”
“It will be ready by next year. We hope during March-April next year. It will be an Inter Continental Ballistic Missile.”
The Strategic Force Command on Monday successfully test fired Agni II, an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) with a range of 2000 km, from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa at 9:18 a.m., meeting all mission objectives.
“Agni II is a strategic missile, which has a range capability of 2,000 km. It can carry a nuclear warhead,” said Dr Selvamurthy.
“We have successfully test fired this today. The Strategic Force Command has carried this out. They have done the whole operation themselves and our scientists have been observing the whole operation.
“It has gone very well. All the mission objectives have been successfully met. This has been inducted in the Armed Forces. It was successfully test fired from the Wheeler Island,” he added.
The Agni missile is a family of medium to inter-continental range ballistic missiles developed by India. It comprises of Agni I, Agni II, Agni III and Agni V. By Praful Kumar Singh (ANI)
