Third Agni 4 test fire likely next week

OST Bureau

New Delhi, Jan 16:

Plans are afoot to carry out a development trial of the nuclear capable Agni-4 missile, which has a range of 4, 000 km, off the Balasore coast next week.

The third test firing of the Agni-4 missile is planned to be carried out early next week off the coast of Odisha, DRDO officials said.

This missile, which has the second-largest striking range in country’s weapons arsenal after Agni 5, has been branded as a quantum leap in terms of missile technology by the DRDO as it is lighter in weight and has two stages of Solid Propulsion and a Payload with Re-entry heat shield.

The indigenous Ring Laser Gyros based high accuracy INS (RINS) and Micro Navigation System (MINGS) complementing each other in redundant mode have been successfully flown in guidance mode in this weapon system during earlier trials.

Compared to the Pershing missile of the US in terms of technology, the Agni-IV has many cutting-edge technologies which meet global standards.

The DRDO recently achieved a significant milestone by successfully test firing the Agni-5 missile, which has a range of over 5,500 km and is categorised as an Inter Continental Ballistic Missile, twice.