"Agni-I missile met all parameters,"

BALASORE(Orissa): India on Sunday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed, nuclear-capable, short range ballistic missile (SRBM) Agni-1 from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island, about 100 km from here off the Orissa coast.

"It was a fantastic mission carried out by the Indian Army. The test-fire of the Agni-I missile met all parameters," director of ITR S P Dash said.

Blasted off from a rail mobile launcher, the surface-to-surface, single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, roared into the sky trailing behind a column of orange and white thick smoke at about 1305 hours.

"After piercing the sky, the missile re-entered the earth's atmosphere and its dummy warhead impacted in the waters of the Bay of Bengal in the down range," a defence official said from the launch site, adding that the guidance and re-entry system worked well.

User of the missile, the strategic force command of the Indian Army, executed the entire launch operation with the necessary logistic support being provided by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) at the integrated test range (ITR).

Weighing 12 tonnes, the 15 metre tall Agni-1, which can carry payloads weighing up to one tonne, has already been inducted into the Indian Army.

Yesterday, two nuclear capable missiles, Dhanush and Prithvi (P-11), had a successful launch by the Indian Navy and Army respectively.

Dhanush was test fired from INS Subhadra about 50 nautical miles from Puri while Prithvi-11 was test fired from a mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 15 km from here.

On March 22, the super-sonic cruise missile BrahMos, jointly developed by India and Russia, was successfully test-fired from INS Ranvir off the Orissa coast.