NEW DELHI, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- India is planning a launch test of its Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile in the coming weeks, an official said.
The Agni-V ICBM was developed by India's Defense Research and Development Organization.
The Agni-V ICBM's first launch is scheduled for the last week of March or early in April, Prensa Latina reported Tuesday, DRDO General Director Vijay Kumar Saraswat, who is also scientific adviser to the Indian Minister of Defense.
Saraswat noted that the Agni-V has the capacity to carry nuclear warheads and strike targets up to 5,000 miles away, about 500 miles less than the most advanced ICBMs.
Saraswat added that the initial Agni-V test launch will be conducted from Wheeler Island, near the coast of central-eastern state of Orissa. It is the first of a number of scheduled test launches to make the Agni-V ICBM ready for operational deployment by 2014.
Assuming that the test are successful and the missile is deployed the Agni-V will bring the whole of Asia, 70 percent of Europe and other regions under its strike envelope.
