India today made a giant stride when it successfully test-fired nuclear-capable Agni-V Inter- Continental Ballistic Missile with a striking range of over 5000 km. The surface-to-surface Agni-V was launched from a mobile platform from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast this morning that has placed India at the threshold of an elite five-member club that possesses ICBMs.
The 17.5 metre-tall and two metre-wide missile with a launch weight of around 50 tonnes, including a 1.5 tonne dummy warhead, blasted off from the island launchpad leaving behind an orange plume.
It rose to a height of 600 km before re-entering the atmosphere to hit a target over 5000 km away in the Indian Ocean.The sophisticated missile can carry a nuclear warhead of more than one tonne.
AIR correspondent reports that this is the first time India has produced a missile that has brought China within its range and it is being considered a big deterrent capability though government itself does not specifically mention any target.
The president Mrs. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, Vice President Mohd Hamid Ansari and the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh have congratulated DRDO scientists and technical personnel for the successful test launch of Agni - 5. In their seperate messags they said nation stands together in the honour of the scientific community who have made the country proud.
Defence Minister A K Antony described the maiden test flight of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Agni-5 as an immaculate success and a major milestone.