Global Security Newswire, 28 Sep 2011.

A trial launch of India's nuclear-ready Agni 2 ballistic missile was completed as expected on Friday, following a test last month that ended in failure, the New Indian Express reported (see GSN, Sept. 19).

The launch from the Integrated Test Range in Orissa state followed two other tests in the last week of Indian missiles designed to accommodate a nuclear warhead (see GSN, Sept. 27). The latest trial further demonstrated the dependability of India's midrange land-to-land missiles, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"The missile reached an apogee (peak altitude) of [137 miles] and hit the target," Indian Defense Research and Development Organization official Ravi Kumar Gupta said. "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."

Organization personnel asserted they had addressed technical issues plaguing the missile, which did not perform as planned in two 2009 tests or in last month's trial.

India intends to conduct a first flight test of the Agni 5 missile in December (see GSN, Aug. 8). The long-range missile is designed to travel as far as 3,100 miles, which is almost enough to classify it as an ICBM, according to previous reports (New Indian Express, Sept. 30).

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