India to test fire Agni-III missile on Thursday

NEW DELHI: Nine months after its first launch faiiled, the country's most powerful nuclear-capable Agni-III missile will be test-fired from the Interim Test Range at Balasore in Orissa on Thursday.

"The missile has been re-configured and would be test launched tomorrow morning", top Defence Ministry officials said.

This will be the second launch of the 3,000-km range missile after an unsuccessful test on July nine last year from the integrated test range.

If successfully test-fired, Agni-III will become the missile with the longest reach in South Asia and more powerful than any missile in Pakistan's arsenal.

However, China has missiles with a longer reach than Agni-III.

Though DRDO scientists put the range of Agni-III at 3,000 km, defence experts say the solid-fuel propelled missile's range could be extended up to almost 5,000 km.

During the launch of Agni-III last year, the second stage booster of the missile failed to separate and the missile plunged into the sea just seconds after taking off.

Defence scientists traced the failure of the test to a defective shield which was unable to withstand the heat generated due to friction during the flight.

They devised a flexible heat shield for the missile without changing its other parameters.

The 16-metre Agni-III weighs 48 tonnes and is capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads weighing up to 1.5 tonnes.