India's surface-to-surface missile Agni-IV was successfully flight-tested from Balasore, Odisha on Monday. Agni-IV is the fourth in the Agni series of missiles and has been developed by India’s DRDO.
Here is all you need to know about Agni-IV:
Range: Agni-IV is a two-stage, surface-to-surface missile that is 20 metres long and weighs 17 tonnes. It has the capacity to carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead over a distance of 4,000 km.
Agni-IV is embedded with a number of new technologies and bridges the gap between Agni-II and Agni-III
Warhead: Agni IV can take a warhead of 1 tonne and is designed to increase the kill efficiency along with a higher range performance.
Propellant: It is a two-stage missile powered by solid propellant and can be fired from a road mobile launcher.
Dimensions: Its length is 20 meters and launches weight 17 tonnes. Agni IV is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, which include indigenously developed ring laser gyro and composite rocket motor.
Efforts are being made to fine-tuning the Agni missiles to defeat anti-ballistic missile systems. Radar and other signatures of Agni-IV have been significantly reduced to make them much more immune to counter-measures.
Past Tests: Agni-IV has undergone one failed and four successful tests over the course of five years.