India successfully conducts night trials of Agni-V missile off Odisha coast

Priya Ranjan Swain Published On : Dec 15, 2022 at 9:24 PM

Bhubaneswar: Amid border dispute with China, India successfully conducted the night trials of Agni-V nuclear-capable ballistic missile from Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast today.

The missile was fired from launch pad no. 4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at the island in the presence of senior officials and scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), sources said.

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The missile has the capacity of hitting targets beyond the range of 5,000 km, DRDO sources said.

The indigenously developed surface-to-surface ballistic missile can carry a payload of around 15 tonnes, sources added.

Agni-V missile has been developed under the integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). It is a fire-and-forget missile, which cannot be stopped without an interceptor missile.

The missile was first successfully test-fired from the Abdul Kalam Island on April 19, 2012.

Notably, the night-trials of Agni-V missile came a few days after a scuffle between Chinese and Indian soldiers on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh.