India test fires long range Agni V nuclear missile

Agni V, a long-range surface-to-surface nuclear-capable ballistic missile, was successfully launched from a canister on a road-mobile launcher at the Dr Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha, India.

The launch operations were carried out and monitored by the Strategic Forces Command in presence of Scientists from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and other associated officials. Local media report:

“Agni-V is part of the Agni series of missiles, one of the missile systems under the original Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat initially declined to disclose the exact range of Agni-V.

Later, however, he described Agni V as a missile with a range of 5,500–5,800 km. Du Wenlong, a researcher at China’s PLA Academy of Military Sciences, told the Global Times that the missile has a range of around 8,000 kilometres (5,000 mi).”

All the mission objectives were successfully achieved. This launch comes after a series of successful launches of the missile, reported local media.

The BBC reported that the launch marked the moment India joined an “elite nuclear club” that also included China, Russia, France, the US, the UK and possibly Israel.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated that they did not think India was a missile threat, nor a threat to NATO and its allies, despite India’s advancement in missile technology.