Agni-I successfully test fired

BALASORE (ORISSA): The short-range variant of India's indigenously developed Agni series of ballistic missiles, Agni-I, capable of carrying 1,000 kg nuclear or conventional warhead, was successfully test fired from Wheelers Island off the Orissa coast on Friday.

The 15-metre surface-to-surface ballistic missile, weighing 12 tonne and with a range of 700 km, was test fired as part of ongoing efforts to fine tune and reconfirm the technical parameters set for the users' launch, Defence sources said.

Described as "users trial", the test was conducted from a mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) launch complex-4 in the Bay of Bengal, about 70 nautical miles from Chandipur, at around 10.38 am, the sources said.

Confirming that the trial was successful, they said there were considerable improvements in re-entry technology and manoeuverability since Agni-I's first test firing on January 25, 2002 from Wheelers Island.

The second and third trials of the missile were conducted on January nine, 2003 and July four, 2004 from the same launch site.

The results of today's trial would be studied and analysed on the basis of data from the network of ground radars, telemetry stations and observations from the intended impact point, the sources said.