India today successfully test-fired indigenously-built medium range nuclear capable Agni-II ballastic missile from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. The trial of the surface-to-surface missile was conducted from a mobile launcher from the Launch Complex Number-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) at 8.45 this morning. The 20-metre long Agni-II is a two-stage, solid-propelled ballistic missile. It has a launch weight of 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of 1000 kg over a distance of 2000 km.
Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) has already been inducted into the services and today's test was carried out by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Army with logistic support provided by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) The two-stage missile equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system, guided by a novel scheme of state of the earth command & control system was propelled by solid rocket propellant system.
The entire trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships located near the impact point in the down range area of the sea. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) first tested the Agni-II in 1999. Since then it has been tested several times.