India’s next ballistic missile in the Agni series, with a striking range of more than 5,000 km, will be test fired early next year, a top official of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said on Monday. Tentatively called Agni-3+, the indigenously-built three-stage missile will be capable of reaching Europe and beyond.

India had successfully test-fired Agni-III in April last year with a range of 3,500 km which had brought Chinese cities, Beijing and Shanghai, under its striking capability. Immediately after that, DRDO had announced its plans for a 5,000 km missile to be developed in the next two to three years.

“Agni-3+ is progressing well in its design stage. We hope to do the first test launch sometime early next year,” V K Saraswat, Chief Controller (Missile Systems Sciences) at DRDO, said.

Around the same time, the DRDO also hopes to complete its keenly-awaited Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system. DRDO is developing long-range interceptors, capable of destroying incoming missiles at a distance of 5,000 km which, it hopes, will be able to provide a missile shield to the country.