Bhubaneswar, March 23 (IANS) The Indian Army Sunday successfully conducted a user trial of the nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-I missile from a defence base in Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast in the Bay of Bengal.
The test was conducted on the island near Bhamra in the district of Bhadrak, 130 km from here, at 10.15 a.m., District Superintendent of Police Rabinarayan Patra told IANS.
The trial was to familiarise the army with the launch of the missile, Patra said.
The indigenously built Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile was inducted in the Indian Army in 2004. The missile has a range of about 700 km and can carry both conventional as well as nuclear warheads of one-tonne.
Patra said prior to the test, fishermen had been alerted not to venture six kilometres around the island in the Bay of Bengal.