India test fires nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile

Balasore: Two days after the successful trial of the long-range Agni-IV missile, India on Friday test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile with a strike range of 3000 km from an island off the Odisha coast.

The indigenously developed surface-to-air missile, which can carry a warhead of 1.5 tonne protected by a carbon all composite heat shield, took off at 1315 hours from a mobile launcher at launch complex-4 of Integrated Test Range at Wheeler Island, defence sources said.

The trajectory of the trial was monitored for data analysis through telemetry stations, electro-optic systems and sophisticated radars located along the coast, and by naval ships anchored near the impact point, they said.

The indigenously developed surface-to-air missile, which can carry a warhead of 1.5 tonne protected by a carbon all composite heat shield.

"It was the fifth test in the Agni-III series carried out to establish the 'repeatability' of the state-of-the-art missile's performance," a DRDO scientist said.

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