India to test new long-range missile

16.02.2012

Delhi

India will next month test a new long-range nuclear-capable missile which can strike targets more than 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles) away, a defense research spokesman said on Wednesday.

The announcement came three months after India successfully tested its Agni-IV missile, which was previously the longest range missile possessed by the armed forces capable of travelling 3,500 kilometres.

“The trial of Agni-V is planned for March and its individual technologies and sub-systems have been tested and everything is fine,” a spokesman for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) told AFP.

“Agni-V is a highly accurate and state-of-art missile system which can carry nuclear weapons,” the official said, declining to disclose the size of the warhead it could carry.

Agni means fire in Sanskrit language.