“The missile test met all its mission objectives with a high level of accuracy,” the government officials added

New Delhi: India on Saturday successfully test-fired the Agni Prime missile off the coast of Odisha in Balasore.

News agency ANI reported the government officials as saying that a lot of new features have been added to the nuclear-capable strategic missile Agni Prime during this test.

“The missile test met all its mission objectives with a high level of accuracy,” the government officials added.

Agni Prime is a new generation advanced variant of Agni class of missiles. It is a cannisterised missile with range capability between 1,000 and 2,000 kms.

This comes days after India successfully flight tested the Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.

The launch, earlier on December 7, was conducted from a vertical launcher against an electronic target at a very low altitude.

The Ministry of Defence in a release said the flight path of the vehicle along with health parameters were monitored using a number of tracking instruments deployed by ITR, Chandipur, adding all sub-systems performed as per expectation.

The Ministry of Defence added the launch of the system was conducted to validate integrated operation of all weapon system components, including the vertical launcher unit with controller, cannisterised flight vehicle, weapon control system etc. required for future launches of the missile from Indian Naval ships.

The test launch was monitored by senior officials from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy.

The confirmatory trial was done to prove the consistent performance of the configuration and integrated operation.

Text Book Launch

“Test carried out by DRDO at 11.06 am. Telemetry, radar, electro-optical stations and downrange ships positioned along eastern coast tracked and monitored missile trajectory and parameters. Missile followed textbook trajectory, meeting all mission objectives with high level of accuracy,” the DRDO said in a statement.

The ballistic missile weighs 50 per cent less than Agni-3 and can be launched from rail and road and stored for a longer period and transported all across the country as per operational requirements.

“The missile test met all its mission objectives with a high level of accuracy,” an official was quoted as saying. The first test was successfully carried out on June 28 at the same place.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the Defence and Research Development Organisation (DRDO) for the successful flight test and expressed his happiness over the system's performance.

Other Critical Tests

On December 7, the country successfully test-fired the air version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile that the ministry of defence described as a ‘major milestone’ in BrahMos development.

The ministry had said the missile was successfully test-fired from Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Sukhoi Su-30MKI supersonic fighter aircraft from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), based in Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.

Around the same time, the Vertically Launched Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) was successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur.

According to Defence Research and Development Organisation officials (DRDO), the air defence system can engage targets at around 15km. The VL-SRSAM, indigenously designed and developed by the DRDO for the Indian Navy, is meant for neutralising various aerial threats at close ranges, including sea-skimming targets, the organisation said.