Smashing success! India fires the destructive NextGen Agni Prime Ballistic Missile

In the third attempt, India successfully tested Agni Prime Ballistic Missile. Know its importance.

Agni Prime Ballistic Missile was test fired on October 21. (Representative Image) (DRDO)

In a major development, India successfully test-fired the NextGen Agni Prime Ballistic Missile from the coast of Odisha, Defence officials confirmed. The ballistic missile was test fired around 9:45 am on October 21. With this test fire, all test objectives were met, and also, it is said to be the third consecutive and successful test fire of the 'Agni Prime' missile so far, which had 'established the accuracy and reliability of the system', Hindustan Times report quoted Defence officials. It also confirmed that the missile travelled its maximum range.

"With this third consecutive successful flight test of the Agni Prime missile, the accuracy and reliability of the system has been established," Defence officials told ANI. The performance of the system has been confirmed while using the data received by several instruments such as Radar, Telemetry and Electro-Optical Tracking systems, which were deployed at different locations. Two of which were placed down-range ships at a terminal point to cover the entire trajectory, the report added.

Before this third test, India had attempted the first test 'Agni Prime' in June last year, and the second was followed six months later on 18 December from the same coast. Officials explained that on both of these tests, the missile followed textbook trajectory and met all mission objectives with a high level of accuracy. Now, this third and successful test of the 'Agni Prime' highlights the capabilities of the Indian defence sector to be self-reliant.

More about Agni Prime

The 'Agni Prime' missile, which is also known as 'Agni-P', is a new generation advanced version of the Agni class of missiles, which is nuclear-capable. It is basically a two-stage canisterised missile, which means it is capable of launching at short notice through improvements in its storage system and handling features. This also implies that it can be launched from rail or road and can be stored for a longer time.

It has a maximum range of 2000 km. The report says that it weighs 50 percent less than the Agni 3 missile, and it is equipped with new guidance and propulsion systems.