Agni-III missile test-fired in another flawless mission

India today test-fired the Agni-III ballistic missile, which has a strike range of more than 3,000 km, as part of user trials by the Indian Army.

The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Indian Army, fired the long range Agni-III missile from the Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast today, defence sources said.

SFC carried out the operation of the surface-to-surface missile with logistic support from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The indigenously developed missile was flight-tested from a mobile launcher at launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range at about 1655 hrs, defence sources said.

''It was the second user trial in the Agni-III series carried out to establish the 'repeatability' of the missile's performance,'' a DRDO official said.

The trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships from its launch till the missile hit the target area with pin point accuracy, an official release said.

The Agni-III missile is equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system and guided by an innovative guidance scheme.

''Such successful training launches clearly indicate our operational readiness to meet any eventuality as also establishes the reliability of this deterrent component of India's Strategic arsenal,'' an SFC spokesman said.

For data analysis, the entire trajectory of today's trial was monitored through various telemetry stations, electro-optic systems and sophisticated radars located along the coast, and by naval ships anchored near the impact point, the sources said.