Global Security Newswire

India on Friday conducted a flight test of one of its longest-range ballistic missiles just two days after completing a trial of another nuclear-capable strategic missile, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

The Agni 3 was launched from a facility on Wheeler Island. The surface-to-surface missile's 2,175 mile flight range is longer than any other ballistic missile in India with the exception of the developmental Agni 5, which has a tested range of 3,100 miles.

"We have already carried out three consecutive successful trials of Agni 3 in 2007, 2008 and 2010 thus making it full proof and a proven missile," Avinash Chander, the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization's head of Agni missiles, was quoted as asserting by the New Indian Express. "In all three occasions the technologies incorporated in the missile system and software have performed as expected."

This week's two successful trials of the Agni 3 and Agni 4 follow a July analysis by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists that concluded India's land-based, nuclear-capable missiles remain behind ground-based deterrent forces held by strategic rivals Pakistan and China.