India today successfully test-fired nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile with a range of about 4,000 km from the Wheeler Island in Dhamra off Odisha coast. The missile was test-fired at 10.52 this morning from launch complex number 4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) of Wheeler Island.

Agni-IV is the fourth in the Agni series of missiles which was earlier known as Agni-II prime.This missile is one of its kind and represents a quantum leap in terms of missile technology. The missile is lighter in weight and has two stages of solid propulsion and a payload with re-entry heat shield. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which has developed the Agni-IV, conducted the test-firing today at the Integrated Test Range on the Wheeler Island. The missile has already been tested thrice earlier.

The two-stage missile weighs 17 tonnes and is 20 metres long and can carry a pay load of one tonne.. While the Army has already deployed Agni-I, II and III missiles, all of which are strategic missiles carrying nuclear warheads, Agni-IV and Agni-V have not been inducted into the Army yet. The DRDO has achieved two consecutive successes including its debut flight with Agni-V, which can carry a nuclear warhead weighing one tonne over a distance of 5,000 km. The DRDO will fire Agni-V from a canister in the next two or three months.