This missile is of significant strategic value as it can be launched from both a road-based system and a broad-gauge rail launcher system, making it highly mobile and difficult to detect, thereby giving India the chance of a second or retaliatory nuclear strike.

The Agni-III will require to be tested “several more times” before it can be made ready for induction, but India signaled that it has fully operationalised its strategic delivery systems last year when the Army conducted its first training trial of the 700-km Agni-I. The Agni-II intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), with a range of over 2000 km, has also been inducted into the Army, but training trials for the system are yet to be conducted.

The DRDO will also be ready to test fire its next ballistic missile in the Agni series, with a range of more than 5000 km, early next year if it gets requisite clearances from the Government. Dubbed as Agni-3+, the indigenously built three-stage missile will have the capability of reaching targets within Europe and beyond.