(COMTEX) B: India tests advanced version of intermediate-range missile
B: India tests advanced version of intermediate-range missile
NEW DELHI, India, Jan 25, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- India
successfully tested an advanced version of its nuclear-capable, intermediate
range Agni missile - the most powerful weapon in its missile arsenal - from an
island off the eastern coast on Friday, news reports said.
The test came as hundreds of thousands of Indian and Pakistani soldiers,
ballistic missiles, fighter jets and tanks face each other across the border in
the biggest military standoff in decades.
The missile test had been planned for months, well before the border troop
standoff that followed a militant attack on India's Parliament on Dec. 13, which
New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based groups. Pakistan has denied involvement, but
banned the groups afterward.
Agni-II soared into the sky over the Bay of Bengal from Wheeler's Island off the
coast of Orissa state early in the morning, Press Trust of India said, quoting
unidentified sources.
The testing site is located 80 kilometers (50 miles) out to sea from a coastal
facility where the Defense Research and Development Organization tests much of
its modern defense weaponry. Agni means "fire" in Hindi, India's national
language.
Other details on the new version were not immediately available from the testing
range at Chandipur, 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) southeast of New Delhi.
The earlier version of the Agni has a range of 2,480 kilometers (1,500 miles).
India's missile arsenal includes army and air force versions of the short-range
ballistic missile Prithvi; the Trishul, a surface-to-air missile that targets
aircraft and can counter sea-skimming missiles; and the anti-tank Nag missile.
India, which conducted five nuclear tests in 1998, is currently perfecting its
missile delivery system.
India says it is developing its missile program as a deterrent against neighbors
China and Pakistan. India has fought one war with China and three with Pakistan.
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KEYWORD: NEW DELHI, India
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