India developing 5000 km-range Agni missile: Antony

Defence Minister A K Antony said today that India is developing a 5,000 kilometers-range Agni ballistic missile. Addressing a conference of heads of DRDO laboratories in New Delhi, he said, India has reached an appreciable level of competence in missile technologies, with a reach capability of 3,500 kilometres. He said, Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO is developing Agni missile with a capacity to reach 5000 kilometres. The Agni-series also includes missile variants with ranges between 700 and 2,500 km.The 5,000 km-range Agni-V is a further advancement of the existing systems and is expected to be test-fired later this year. Other missiles developed by the DRDO are the Prithviand its variants with ranges upto 350 km, surface-to-air Akash missile defence system with a range of 25-30 km and the short- range anti-tank NAG missile.
The Trishul air defence missile system programme was scrapped by the DRDO after it was marred by delays. In his address, the Defence Minister asked the DRDO to speed up the development trials and induction of Interceptor Missile as part of the credible Ballistic Missile Defence, BMD.To reduce cases of suicides and fratricides in the armed forces, Antony asked the DRDO to to undertake a detailed research program to make an assessment of stress profile and mental health of the soldiers.Media Agencies