NEW DELHI – Indian army’s “nuclear-capable” Agni-III missile on Saturdayfailed its maiden night test launch and crashed into the sea shortly afterlaunch, according to reports by Indian media.
The missile plunged into the sea after the first-stage separation and itwas launched from Abdul Kalam Island off India’s Odisha coast.
The missile traveled around 115 km into its initial flight trajectory whenthings went awry. It deviated from the flight path forcing the mission teamto terminate it midway,” Indian media quoted ‘highly placed’ sources.
“Staring from the launch to the first phase separation, everything wassmooth in accordance with the mission plan. But suddenly it startedbehaving abnormally.”
“It could possibly be due to metallurgical defects,” it added. The missile,which could carry both conventional and nuclear warheads weighing up to 1.5tonnes, had already been inducted in the inventory back in 2011.
An initial investigation points to a ‘manufacturing defect’ in the missile.
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Weapon systems produced in India usually suffer from low workmanship andsuffer from poor maintenance standards prevalent across the Indian military.
The Agni-III ballistic missile is claimed by Indian military of having acapability of hauling conventional and nuclear warheads, weighing up to 1.5tonnes, to a reported range of more than 2,000kms.
Two other variants of the missile, Agni-I and Agni-II, have failed duringboth development and user trials in the past. Agni-II had failed to deliverdesired result during its first night trial in 2009.
