On June 1, 2023, India’s Strategic Forces Command successfully carried out a training launch of the Agni-1-Medium Range Ballistic missile from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha, the defence ministry in a statement.
Defence Ministry spokesperson Bharat Bhushan Babu said, “The missile is a proven system capable of striking targets with speed and high precision. The user training launch successfully validated all operational and technical parameters of the missile.”
In October 2022, India successfully fired ‘Agni Prime’ a new generation of ballistic missiles, from the coast of Odisha. As per defence officials, all the test objectives were met, and they said the third consecutive and successful test of Agni Prime had established the accuracy and reliability of the system.
The officials said the performance was validated using data obtained from numerous tracking systems, including radar, telemetry, and electro-optical systems.
Officials added that these systems were deployed at different locations along the flight path, including two down-range ships, and covered the entire trajectory.
The first missile test was carried out in June 2022 and six months later, in December 2022. On both occasions too the missile followed textbook trajectory and met all the mission requirements with a high level of accuracy.
On November 2022, Agni-3 IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) was tested from APJ Abdul Kalam Island from the coastline of the eastern Indian State of Odisha.
The same year, on December 16, 2022, India successfully tested an Agni-V Ballistic missile with a range of 5000 km from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha. The Strategic Forces Command carried out the test.
The Agni-1-4 missile ranges from 700km to 3500km and has been already deployed. In April 2023, India successfully conducted the maiden flight trial of an endo-atmospheric interceptor missile in the Bay of Bengal.
The trial of the sea-based missile was to engage and neutralise a hostile ballistic missile threat, thereby elevating India into an elite club of nations with such a capability.
In the last two decades, India has focused on enhancing its strategic deterrent capability by developing various ballistic missiles, precision-guided munitions and related performance.
The nuclear-capable Agni series of Missiles are surface-to-surface missiles developed by the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation). It is a state-of-the-art missile propelled by a solid rocket propellant system.
It is equipped with a special navigation system to ensure pinpoint precision targets. It can carry a payload of 1000 kilograms. These missiles provide credible nuclear deterrence to India from adversaries such as China and Pakistan.
The Ballistic Missile Defences (BMD) can intercept incoming long-range nuclear missiles and hostile aircraft, including the AWACS (Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems). India is developing capabilities to intercept hostile ballistic missiles inside and outside the earth’s atmospheric limits.
In the Agni Family of nuclear-capable missiles, the Agni-II is the oldest and shortest-range missile. Its range is 700 km. It was India’s first nuclear-capable device to be tested in the late 1980s, a decade before the country conducted its second armed nuclear tests in 1998
For the Agni-1 Missile, India has a total of twenty launchers. It can be deployed from rail as well as road-based platforms. The twelve-ton, fifteen meters long and 1000kg payload has been inducted into the Indian Military.
The Agni-II medium-range ballistic missile, Agni-III and Agni-IV IRBM and the Agni-V ICBM are the worthy successors of the Agni-1 missiles.
The Advanced Research Laboratory of the DRDO with the Defence Research Development Lab, the Research Centre Imarat, and the Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), a Hyderabad-based organisation, collaborated to develop the Agni-I missile.
The development of the Agni Missile Series began in the early 1980s under the banner of the Integrated Guided Missile Program (IGMDP) led by APJ Abdul Kalam, who played a key role in India’s missile and space programs. The word “Agni” means ‘fire’ in the Sanskrit language.
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