Agni-IV, India’s surface-to-surface missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, will be flight-tested next week, probably on November 9. The trial will take place on the Wheeler Island, off Odisha. The missile can cover 4,000 km. The Strategic Forces Command of the Services will fire the missile with a dummy payload of chemical explosives.
This is the fifth flight-trial of Agni-IV, originally called Agni Prime. Except the first trial, the three subsequent launches were successful. Agni-IV is a two-stage missile. It is 20 metres long and weighs 17 tonnes.
It was last flight-tested in December 2014 for a reduced range of 3,000 km.
K-4, another strategic missile that can be fired from submarines, is under development. It has a range of 3,000 km.