India successfully test fires nuclear-capable Agni-I missile

Bhubaneswar: India on Thursday successfully test-fired its indigenous developed nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-I missile from a military base in Odisha, a defence official said.

The missile, which can strike a target 700 km away and can carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead, was tested by the armed forces as part of user trial from a facility on Wheeler Island near Dhamra in Bhadrak district, 170 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.

“It was a perfect launch,” director of the test range MVKV Prasad said.

Agni is an intermediate range ballistic missile. It uses solid propulsion booster and a liquid propulsion upper stage, derived from India’s first indigenously developed ballistic missile Prithvi.