Nuclear Capable Agni III Test Fired Successfully

On Sunday, India "successfully" test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile with a range of more than 3,000 km from the Wheeler Island off Orissa coast. The indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile was tested from a rail mobile launcher near Dhamara. This was the fourth flight test in the Agni-III series carried out to establish the "repeatability" of the missile's performance, they said. The entire trajectory of today's trial was monitored through various telemetry stations, electro-optic systems and sophisticated radars located along the coast, in Port Blair and by Naval ships anchored near the impact point in the down range area for data analysis, the sources said. Agni-III missile is powered by a two-stage solid propellant system. With a length of 17 metres, the missile's diameter is 2 metres and launch weight is 50 tonnes. It can carry a payload of 1.5 tonnes which is protected by carbon-carbon all composite heat shield. The sleek missile is equipped with sophisticated navigation, guidance and control systems along with advanced on-board computer systems.