NEW DELHI, Dec 15: Amidst heightened tensions with China over clashes in Arunachal Pradesh, India has successfully carried out night trials of the Agni V nuclear-capable ballistic missile which can hit targets beyond 5,400 km and reach Beijing, Defence Ministry sources said on Thursday,
The test was carried out to validate new technologies and equipment on the missile and has proved that the missile can now hit targets further away than before, they added. The nuclear-capable ballistic missile was fired from Abdul Kalam Island, off the coast of Odisha. This is the ninth flight of the Agni V – a missile first tested in 2012 – and was a routine test, Defence Ministry sources said.
While the test was carried out days after the clashes, it had been planned earlier. India had announced its intention to test a long-range missile and issued a NOTAM or Notice to Airmen well before the incident in Arunachal’s Tawang.
With the incursion in Arunachal, China had tried to “unilaterally change the status quo” on the de facto border known as Line of Actual Control last week, triggering clashes that left troops on both sides injured, the defence minister Rajnath Singh had said adding that the attempt had been successfully repulsed.
(Manas Dasgupta)
