India's nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni-V successfully test fired

Bhubaneshwar: India successfully test-fired indigenously-developed nuclear-capable Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday.

The test-firing was done from the Abdul Kalam Island defence test facility off the Odisha coast at 0953 hours.

The 5000 kilometer range Agni-V can can reach targets as far as Beijing.

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Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Agni-V is the most advanced version of the Agni series, part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme that started in the 1960s.

The missile was earlier tested successfully in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016.

It has a range of 5,000 km and can reach the northern most parts of China. Agni-V can carry a nuclear or traditional warhead of about 1.5 tonnes.

With Agni-V, India has joined the US, Russia, the UK, France and China, all of which boast having ICBM capabilities.

Agni-V weighs 50 tonnes and can carry nuclear warhead of about 1.5 tonnes up to a distance of more than 5,000 km.

The missile, earlier, has been successfully tested twice from mobile launchers and once from a hermetically sealed canister.