India successfully tests n-capable Agni II missile

After two successive failures last year, India Monday successfully test fired the nuclear capable intermediate range Agni II missile, with a range of over 2,000 km, from a launch site in Orissa, officials said.

The surface to surface missile was tested by army personnel as part of a training exercise from Wheeler's Island in Bhadrak district, about 200 km from here, an official said.

"It was a very successful launch. It met all the mission objectives," director of the test range S.P. Dash told IANS.

The Agni II missile, part of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, is 20 metres long and can carry a payload of 1,000 kg.

Weighing 17 tonnes, the range of the missile can also be increased to 3,000 km by reducing the payload. It can be fired from both rail and road mobile launchers.

It takes only 15 minutes for the missile to be readied for firing, officials said, adding that the Agni II-version of the Agni series of missiles was first test fired in 1999 from the same location.

The last two tests in May and November did not meet the mission's desired objectives and were described as failures.

Scientists say they have now corrected all the errors.