The nuclear-tipped Agni-III has all cities in both Pakistan and China, including Beijing, within its striking range and will be India's second strike deterrent.
Continuing its tirade against the successful launch of Agni V, Chinese state media has again accused New Delhi of buckling under pressure from the North Atlantic Treaty organisation to cut down the missile's range from 9,000 km to 5,000 km.
Range preparation for the maiden test of India's indigenously developed nuclear capable 'Agni-V' ballistic missile with a strike range of over 5,000 km is "near complete" and the trial is likely to be held from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast this Wednesday.
India on Sunday conducted a second test flight of its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Agni-V long-range ballistic missile, which has a strike range of more than 5000 km, from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast.
The test of the indigenously built Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile was carried out from a mobile launcher at about 1006 hrs from launch pad-4 of Integrated Test Range at Wheelers Island near Dhamra, about 80 km from Balasore in Orissa, defence sources said.
'It was like an 'agni pariksha' for me. I had to go through a test by fire twice'
With this second successful test-firing, India now joins a select group of nations having intermediate range ballistic missiles with range up to 3,000 km. The missile will give the nation the capability to target cities in China like Beijing and Shanghai. The success of Agni-III paves the way for India to build its truly intercontinental range missiles Agni-IV with a range of 5000 km in the near future.
Any failure in the launch of the missile, which has a range of 3,000 km, 'would be a great setback to defence scientists', he added.
The missile was launched from a mobile launcher at the Integrated Test Range at the Wheelers' Island, a defence base in the Bay of Bengal on Orissa coast near in Balasore, Orissa, at 1015 hours. This was the second user trial of the precision target hitting missile to test its 'operational readiness', the scientists said. The last trial was conducted on October 5, 2007, from the same launch site.
Nuclear-tipped missiles don't give security, says Praful Bidwai
The relevance of organisations like AGNI was further highlighted when the Governor cited that the transition of Mumbai to Shanghai was only possible with active citizen participation.
Delhi's refusal to beat its chest is part of its recent pragmatic approach to foreign and security affairs, says Jyoti Malhotra
The indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile, blasted off at 10.52 am from a fixed platform with the help of an auto launcher in the launch complex-4 of the ITR, located about 72 km from Balasore, defence sources said.
The missile tested today was 'an improved version of Shaheen-1 with improvements in range and technical parameters'. The military did not specify the range of the missile though the original version of the Hatf-4 had a reach of 750 km. The missile, capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads, can reach targets deep within India
The first test firing of the surface-to-surface missile with a range of over 3,000 km ended in failure on July 9 when, after a smooth take off, it plunged into the sea far short of its intended target.
Although the credit for acquiring the technological skill must be given to India's outstanding nuclear scientists, the decision to go nuclear was a political one that entailed clarity of vision, courage and resolve, points out Rup Narayan Das.
"I am a son of Assam and if a single person who has not applied for NRC in the state gets citizenship, I will be the first to resign," the chief minister said on the sidelines of a programme at Sivasagar.
Preparations are in the final stages by the Chennai-headquartered space-tech startup Agnikul Cosmos for the maiden launch of India's first-ever private launchpad and the second rocket launch by a private sector player.
The Information Ministry also said Paksitan has a right to launch a pre-emptive strike if India thinks the same way.
Indonesia's foreign ministry could lodge a formal protest over the incident, Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa reportedly said.
Surface-to-surface Agni V missile is launched from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast on Thursday
Shaurya was found not walking properly by the tracking team around 11 am after which the wild animal was tranquilised and efforts were made to revive the feline, but they failed, said the statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented gifts from Sri Ranganath Swamy temple in Tiruchirapalli to the newly constructed Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Highly placed sources said the test firing could take place any time this month.
Chinese strategic experts have said that India's Agni-V missile has a potential to strike targets 8,000 km away and the launch of the long-range weapon shows that India is making concrete efforts to become a world power.
Home-grown mobile phone company Lava International has become the first Indian brand to launch 5G smartphones for domestic consumers. The smartphone launched under the brand name 'Agni' has been developed by Lava in India and is getting manufactured at its plant in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. "The purpose of launching Agni is to give Indian consumers the choice of a made in India 5G smartphone for Indians by an Indian company. "We wanted to establish before people that there can be an Indian brand which is technology oriented. "We are second in the world to launch a 5G smartphone on Mediatek Dimensity 810 chipset," Sunil Raina, president & business head, Lava International told PTI on the sidelines of the launch.
India succefully test-fired a 3,000-km Agni-III missile on April 12 this year.
A Namibian cheetah has given birth to three cubs at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district, a Union minister said on Wednesday.
Avinash Chander's contract was terminated 15 months before his term was over
Amazon Prime Video has announced 69 assorted Web series and movies, and the slate sure looks interesting.
Boundary-breaking Designer Ujjwal Dubey is shaking up the fashion industry with his gender fluid collection.
Glimpses from the Theyyam festival in Somwarpet, Karnataka.
Shivaleeka Oberoi and Abhishek Pathak matched in shades of pink at their haldi ceremony.
'The world needs Gandhi now more than any other time in history.'
The Indian troops guarding the nearly 3,500-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) maintained an assertive approach in sync with the broader national security doctrine and procured a variety of military platforms and weapons to enhance their combat capabilities.
Kangana Ranaut ticks off all the boxes of the poker-faced spy model in Dhakaad, observes Sukanya Verma, but the the movie needs real rescuing.
With this, six cheetahs have been released into the wild at the KNP so far. Now, 11 translocated felines and four cubs are left in the enclosures, he said.
What is the CDS telling the Raksha Mantri that has got Rajnath Singh pensive?
Every now and then Bollywood finds itself in need of divine intervention.
'We are very close to become a theocratic State where Hinduism is the official religion of the government.'
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