Agni-III test-fired successfully
India's credible nuclear deterrence capability received a boost on
Wednesday with the successful test-firing of Agni-III ballistic missile,
which is capable of striking targets 3,500 km away, from the Wheeler
Island, off the Orissa coast.
The missile soared into the sky from a rail-mobile launcher at 9.56
a.m., carved a parabolic arc with its stages igniting and jettisoning on
time, and a dummy payload splashing 3,000 km away in the Indian Ocean.
The missile climbed to an altitude of 350 km and reached a velocity
of over 4,000 metres a second. As the re-entry system plunged into the
atmosphere, it worked to perfection, withstanding a searing temperature
of over 2,500 degrees Celsius. The entire flight lasted 13 minutes and
20 seconds.
The launch propelled India into a select group of countries such as
Russia, the U.S., France and China with the intermediate-range ballistic
missile capability.
-Hindu |