India plans this week to test-fire for the first time the longest-range missile in its arsenal, a weapon that would enable the South Asian nation’s military to target parts of northern China and eastern Europe.
The Agni V, with a range of more than 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles) and the capacity to carry a nuclear warhead, may be launched from the eastern India state of Odisha as early as tomorrow, according to a government official. He declined to be identified because he is not authorized to publicly discuss the timing of the event.
“This missile is about neutralizing the threat coming from China,” said Uday Bhaskar, a former commodore in the Indian navy and now an analyst at the New Delhi-based National Maritime Foundation, a research group. “The tests are about trying to create equality with chinarather than trying to outdo it.”
The Agni V, with a range of more than 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles) and the capacity to carry a nuclear warhead, may be launched from the eastern India state of Odisha as early as tomorrow, according to a government official. He declined to be identified because he is not authorized to publicly discuss the timing of the event.
Agni IV missile is on display during the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, India. The state-owned Defence Research & Development Organisation said that a test-firing for the first time of the Agni V was likely in April. Photographer: Raveendran/AFP/Getty Images
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