India is all set to join the elite club of nations having Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) with the scheduled test launching of 5,000 km-range Agni-5 missile from Integrated Test Range (ITR) of Dhamra in Wheeler Island off Odisha coast this afternoon. The test-firing of the Agni-5 will catapult India to a hyper-exclusive club of the United States of America, Russia, France and China. India will also have the capability of targeting all of Asia and large parts of Europe.

The solid fuel powered 17-meter long missile is likely to be test-fired over the full-range of 5,000 km and the same will be monitored by DRDO scientists from launch to the point of impact in order to study its accuracy.

The DRDO plans to conduct more such tests of the missile over the next one year after studying and analyzing the parameters achieved in each subsequent trial. On the timeline fixed for fully developing Agni-5, highly placed souces said another one year of testing will be involved. In November last year, DRDO had successfully test fired the 3,500 km range Agni-4 missile giving muscle to India's deterrent capability against the military adversaries.