India test-fires Agni-V missile with over 5,000-km strike range

India on Thursday test-fired the surface-to-surface intercontinental ballistic missile Agni-V – the most potent missile so far developed indigenously - from the Abdul Kalam Island test facility off the Odisha coast.

Agni-V, with a range of over 5,500-5,800 kilometres, is capable of hitting targets anywhere in China. It has all of Asia and parts of Africa and Europe within its range. Experts say the missile's range can be easily extended to at least 8,000 km.

This is the fourth and final experimental test of the Agni-V missile. It had previously tested the missile on 26 December 2016 off Wheeler Island on the Odisha coast.

India currently has the Agni-I (700-km range), Agni-II (2,000-km range), Agni-III and Agni-IV (over 3,500-km range), and the supersonic Brahmos missiles.

The missile, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, was first test-fired on 19 April 2012 and since then it has been tested three times more on 15 September 2013, 31 January 2015, and on 26 December 2016.

Today's test paves the way for its operationalisation and induction  into the Indian Army's Strategic Forces Command (SFC).

The surface-to-surface, three-stage, solid propellant powered Agni-V is about 17 metres long, two metres wide and weighs over 50 tonnes. It is the latest in the Agni missile series. India already has Agni-I (700 km range), Agni-II (2,000 km range), Agni-III (3,000-5,000 km range) and Agni-IV (3,500-4,000 km range) in its arsenal.

Agni-V's successful test in 2012 put India in an elite nuclear club of the US, Russia, China, France and Britain which posses nuclear-tipped ICBMs.