New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) India will enter an exclusive league of nations with a nuclear-capable weapon system with a range of over 5,000-km in its arsenal with first test of the Agni-V missile planned for the end of March or the beginning of April.
‘The first test-firing of Agni-V is scheduled to take place in the last week of March or the first week of April from Wheeler Island (off the coast of Odisha),’ Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief V.K. Saraswat said here.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the launch of a project for commercialising products developed by one of the DRDO laboratories.
After the first test, the DRDO will continue to do so for another year to validate the Agni-V for operational deployment.
‘This is a programme which is going on for last two years. Another one year of testing will be involved,’ Saraswat said.
India had successfully tested a 3,500-km range Agni-V missile last November. Saraswat had then said the Agni-V test would take place in early 2012.
Earlier, Saraswat launched the ‘Aahaar’ project in collaboration with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and BASIX Group, a commercial entity.
