Agni-1 Test-fired Successfully

Nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missile Agni-1 was successfully test-fired on March 23, 2008 from the Wheeler Island, off Damra village, off the coast of Orissa.

The most important aspect of the test-firing was that it was totally executed by the army, the user of the missile. This is the second time that the Army test-fired the missile on its own.

The missile shot majestically into the sky at 10·15 a.m. from a road-mobile launcher, a huge truck, on the Integrated Test Range on the Island. It cut aparabolic path across the sky, climbed into space and dived into the Bay of Bengal, reaching a distance of 700 km. Its re-entry system worked flawlessly.

This was the fifth successful launch of Agni-1, a product of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

The launch was a fine piece of technological work integrating all the operational systems and the strategic command network. The successful test-firing of the missile has been described as a major milestone in India’s preparedness ofstrategic defence because it was operated and launched by the armed forces. All the systems worked perfectly during the flight.

According to the Chief Controller R & D (Missiles and Strategic Systems) DRDO, Agni-1, along with Agni-II and Agni-III, formed the triad of the country’s minimumand credible nuclear deterrence, which in fact is the defence aim of India. Agni-1’s success therefore constitutes a tremendous boost to strategic defence.Consequent upon the successful firing of Agni-1 on 23-3-08, the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile on March 5 and the K-15 (Sagarika) missile from a submergedpontoon on February 26, 2008 the DRDO now will set its sight on launching the Agni-III ballistic missile in April 2008.

The Agni-1 missile was developed by the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), the premier missile development centre of the DRDO, in collaboration with itsneighbours, that is, the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), the Research Centre, Imarat, all of which form the missile complex at Hyderabad.It was integrated by the Bharat Dynamics Limited, also located in Hyderabad. The Vehicle Research and Development Establishment at Ahmednagar, Maharashtra,the ITR and public and private sector industries contributed to the launch.