It was three in a row for Indian missile scientists in the past one week. Shourya, Prithvi-II and today it was Agni-II, the 2,000-km range, surface-to-surface ballistic missile which was successfully test fired today from Wheeler Island, off the coast of Orissa.

The nuclear capable, strategic Agni-II missile was launched by the strategic forces command of the Indian Army as part of their training, according to scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at around 9.30 a.m. The success once again established the reliability of the medium range surface to surface missile, Mr Avinash Chander, Chief Controller (R&D), Missiles and Strategic Systems of the DRDO told Business Line.

The missile has already been inducted and is part of countries arsenal for strategic deterrence.

The two-stage missile equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system, guided by a novel scheme of latest command & control system was propelled by solid rocket propellant system.

The missile reached an apogee (peak altitude) of 220 km and hit the target. All the radar, telemetry systems, ectopic system tracked and monitored all parameters throughout the trajectory.

Two ships located near the target point have tracked the missile in the final stage, a release from the DRDO said.

Agni-II has been developed by the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), Hyderabad, and several DRDO laboratories.

Dozens of industry, both major and SMEs are involved in the design and fabrication of the 20-metre tall missile which weighs 17 tonnes.

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