NEW DELHI – India on Sunday conducted a successful test of its indigenouslydeveloped intercontinental surface-to-surface nuclear capable ballisticmissile ‘Agni-5’ from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast.
The missile was launched with the help of a mobile launcher from launchpad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at 9.48 am, defence sourcessaid. The missile covered its full distance during the trial which was atotal success, they said.
This was the sixth trial of the state-of-the-art Agni-5. Before this, theDefence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had conducted fivetests of the Agni-5 missile, the last one on January 18 this year. Thefirst test was conducted on April 19, 2012.
“The flight performance of the missile was tracked and monitored by radars,tracking instruments and observation stations all through the mission,” thesources said.
he indigenously-developed surface-to-surface missile, Agni-5, is capable ofstriking a target at 5,000 km away. It is about 17-metre long, 2-metre wideand has launch weight of around 50 tonnes. The missile can carry a nuclearwarhead of more than one tonne.
Unlike other missiles of Agni series, the latest one ‘Agni-5’ is the mostadvanced having some new technologies incorporated with it in terms ofnavigation and guidance, warhead and engine.
Lot of new technologies developed indigenously were successfully tested inthe first Agni-5 trial. The redundant navigation systems, very highaccuracy Ring Laser Gyro based Inertial Navigation System (RINS) and themost modern and accurate Micro Navigation System (MINS) had ensured theMissile reach the target point within few metres of accuracy.
The high-speed on board computer and fault tolerant software along withrobust and reliable bus guided the missile flawlessly, an official said.Italso has advantages of higher reliability, longer shelf life, lessmaintenance and enhanced mobility.
India has at present in its armoury of Agni series, Agni-1 with 700 kmrange, Agni-2 with 2000 km range, Agni-3 and Agni-4 with 2500 km to morethan 3500km range.
The first test of Agni-5 was conducted on April 19, 2012, the second onSeptember 15, 2013, the third on January 31, 2015 and fourth trial onDecember 26, 2016 from the same base.
After some few more trials, Agni-5 will be inducted into the services.