Agence France-Presse,
New Delhi: India on Wednesday test fired its nuclear-capable Agni-1 ballistic missile for the second time in less than a month and said the latest experiment was a “major success.”
The Agni-1 has a range of 700 kilometres (420 miles), making it capable of striking at most targets in rival and neighbouring Pakistan.
It was launched from a missile test range in the eastern state of Orissa, officials from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said in New Delhi.
“The system that we tested today has more manoeuvrability and better re-entry technology than the missile that was launched on October 5,” said a DRDO official who asked not to be named.
“It is a major success,” the official added.
The launch was conducted by India's recently-established strategic armed forces, signalling Agni-1's official induction into the million-plus military, defence experts said.
“The performance parameters of the missile were as expected and the desired objectives have been met”, a defence ministry spokesman added.
The Agni — Sanskrit for fire — is a 12-metre (39-foot) medium-range ballistic missile that can be fired from mobile launchers and can carry a one-ton warhead.
In April, India staged a successful test of Agni-III, its longest range ballistic missile capable of transporting a nuclear warhead more than 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) deep in China.
India, which held nuclear weapons tests in 1998, has developed a series of nuclear and conventional missile systems as part of a missile development programme launched in 1983.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan routinely carry out missile tests and normally notify each other in advance. Two of their three wars have been over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
