India successfully testfires Agni-V missile

A surface-to-surface Agni V missile is launched from the Wheeler Island off the eastern Indian state of Odisha April 19, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

NEW DELHI -  India Thursday successfully testfired its homemade nuclear-capable Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile, with a range of 5,000 kms, off the coast of the eastern state of Odisha, sources said.

"The missile, with a strike range of over 5,000 kms, was testfired at 08:07 am local time from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast, hitting the target 5,000 km away.

"We have done it. Superhit," said V.L. Saraswat, chief of the India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

The missile's 17.5 meter tall, solid-fueled, has three stages and a launch weight of 50 tones. It has cost more than 2.5 billion rupees ($480 million) to develop," the sources said.

Agni-V incorporates advanced technologies involving ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer for navigation and guidance, they said, adding the solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile has been developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization.

The missile brings the whole of Asia, 70 percent of Europe and other regions under its strike range and puts India among a select band of countries in the world to possess the technology of Inter- Continental Ballistic Missiles.