Balasore (Odisha): Giving an edge to the country’s strategic strike capability, India on Saturday successfully carried out the maiden canister-based trial of its most potent missile Agni-V, which has a strike range of over 5000 kms and can carry a nuclear warhead of over one tonne, off Odisha coast.
The missile was launched from a canister mounted on a road-mobile launcher at Wheeler’s Island .
“The three stage, solid propellant missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher from the launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 8.06 hours,” ITR Director M V K V Prasad said.
“A gas generator at the bottom of the canister pushed the 17.5 metre long, 50-tonne Agni-V out of the canister. The missile, which can take on targets situated more than 5,000 km away, had a dummy pay-load in today’s trial,” said a senior defense analyst at the ITR here.
The missile version was stored and launched from a hermetically sealed canister. The steel container was made of maraging steel.
Defence analysts said the canister would make the missile fully road or rail mobile, giving a great deal of secrecy and flexibility to the country’s strategic strike capability. The alternate to using canister is fixed ground-based silos which are vulnerable to surveillance and attack.
