Army to test 2 Agni missiles

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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BALASORE: The Indian Army has planned to conduct flight tests of two Agni variant missiles from the missile testing range off the ..

BALASORE: The Indian Army has planned to conduct flight tests of two Agni variant missiles from the missile testing range off the Orissa coast in the next 45 days. These tests are aimed at gauging the effectiveness of the weapons and their performance in real time situation.
Defence sources said the missiles to be testfired are 700km range AgniI and 2,000km range AgniII. The Strategic Forces Command (SFC), a contingent specially raised to carry out the user specific tests of the missiles developed by DRDO, will conduct the tests. Both the missiles have been inducted in the Army.The missiles will be launched from the launching complexIV of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) with the logistic support from the DRDO scientists and technical officers. While AgniII has been planned to be tested in the last week of August, the test of AgniI is scheduled for third week of September.

A defence official said as the missiles have been handed over to the Army for its use during the time of crisis, the military personnel through these userspecific trials get to know how to use the weapon and its capability.

AgniI missile weighs around 12 tonnes and can carry both conventional and nuclear payload of about 1,000 kg. It is powered by both solid and liquid propellants, which imparts it a speed of 2.5 km a second. The missile can blast off from both road and rail mobile launchers.