India may test fire Agni-IV missile next week

New Delhi: India is planning to carry out a development trial of the 4,000 km-range nuclear weapon capable Agni-IV missile off the coast of Odisha next week. This would be the third test-firing of the missile, which has the second-largest striking range in country’s weapon arsenal.[caption id=“attachment_1344095” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Agni 4. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] The third testfiring of the Agni-IV missile is planned to be carried out early next week off the coast of Odisha, DRDO officials said. This missile has been branded as a quantum leap in terms of missile technology by the DRDO as it is lighter in weight and has two stages of Solid Propulsion and a Payload with Re-entry heat shield. The indigenous Ring Laser Gyros based high accuracy INS (RINS) and Micro Navigation System (MINGS) complementing each other in redundant mode have been successfully flown in guidance mode in this weapon system during earlier trials. Compared to the Pershing missile of the US in terms of technology, the Agni-IV has many cutting-edge technologies which can meet global standards. The DRDO recently achieved a significant milestone by successfully testfiring twice the Agni-V missile, which has a range of over 5,500 km and is categorised as an Inter Continental Ballistic Missile. PTI