5,000-km range Agni-5 to be test fired in Feb

Buoyed by the successful test-firing of the Agni-4, DRDO will launch the 5,000-km version of the nuclear capable missile after three months as part of strengthening India's deterrence capabilities.

Buoyed by the successful test-firing of the Agni-4, DRDO will launch the 5,000-km version of the nuclear capable missile after three months as part of strengthening India's deterrence capabilities.

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"Agni-V is presently undergoing integration and we may test fire it by the end of February next year. It is right on schedule and the successful test of Agni-4 will prove to be a building block in development of this missile," DRDO chief V K Saraswat said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Saraswat talked about India's missiles programme and developing effective deterrence capability against adversaries.

Yesterday, DRDO had successful test fired nuclear capable Agni-4 missile from a test range in Wheeler Island off Odisha coast.

"Agni-4 belongs to DRDO's flagship programme to make the country self-reliant in missile technology. We have now graduated to a higher level of missile technology with more capable versions of the earlier missiles such as Agni-1 and Agni-2," he said.

Talking about Agni-4's capabilities, he said, "Earlier missiles were based on rail mobile launchers which needed an exhaustive infrastructure support. But Agni-4 is based on road mobile launchers. It gives a much higher level of flexibility and is a maintenance free system. It is better in terms of accuracy and performance as well."