N-capable Agni-IV testfired with high accuracy

BALASORE: India on Tuesday added another feather in its strategic defence profile by successfully test launching a new generation missile Agni-IV, first of its kinds in the world, with a high accuracy, from a defence base off the Odisha coast.Having a strike range of over 3,000 km, this indegenously built surface-to-surface nuclear-capable Intermideate Range Ballistict Missile (IRBM) was testfired from the launching complex-IV of the Wheelers Island, near Bhadrak district’s Dhamra coast, at about 9 am.Scientists and the senior Army personnel, who were closely monitoring the trajectory and flight path of the missile at the mission control room, went into ruptures as the missile rose majestically into the sky, spewing thick yellow and white smoke and traveled in the pre-coordinated projectile. DRDO chief V K Saraswat said the missile had a textbook trajectory and reached a height of about 900 km as expected. “All mission objectives were fully met. All the systems functioned perfectly till the end encountering the re-entry temperatures of more than 3,000°C,” he said.Fired from a road mobile launcher, the missile zeroed in on to the pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal with a high degree of accuracy after a flight duration of about 20 minutes. “During the test we proved many new technologies for the first time that gave a quantum leap in technology,” he informed. Defence sources said Agni-IV is a modified version of the Agni-II strategic missile and was originally called Agni-II Prime, whose first test in December 10 last year was a failure. While Agni-II Prime had a strike range of 2,750 km having the capability to carry 1,000 kg payload, Agni-IV has  a designed range of 3,500 km with and can carry 800 kgs warhead with re-entry heat shield. The two-stage solid propelled missile is 20-m tall.DRDO Chief Controller (missiles and strategic systems) and programme director of AGNI Avinash Chander said Agni-II Prime had now been renamed Agni-IV. This time the missile equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, including indigenously developed ring laser gryo and composite rocket motor was, however, tested for 3,000 km range.