The trial of the nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missile Agni-II was conducted from a mobile launcher from the launch Complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at around 9.40 am on Sunday.
Describing the test of the state-of-the-art missile as fully successful, ITR Director MVKV Prasad said, “It was a user trial conducted by the Army.”The Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) has already been inducted into the Services, and Sunday’s test was carried out by the specially formed Strategic Forces Command of the Army as part of training exercise with logistic support provided by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), ITR officials said.
The two-stage sophisticated missile, equipped with an advanced high-accuracy navigation systemand guided by a novel scheme of state-of-the- art command and control system, was propelled by a solid rocket propellant system, they said.“The entire trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships located near the impact point in the down range area of the sea,” said a DRDO scientist.
The 20-metre-long Agni-II is a two-stage, solid-propelled ballistic missile. It has a launch weight of 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of 1,000 kg over a distance of more than 2,000 km.
The Agni-II was developed by the Advanced Systems laboratory (ASl) and integrated by the Bharat Dynamics limited (BDl), Hyderabad. It is part of the Agni series of missiles developed by the DRDO which includes Agni-I with a 700-km range, Agni-III with a 3,000-km range, Agni-IV with a 4,000 km range and Agni-V with more than 5,000-km range, the officials said.
The last trial of the Agni-II had been conducted on April 7, 2013 from the same base and was a total success.