New Delhi, May 6: India is set to test fire its long-range nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile on Wednesday from the Chandipur Integrated Test Range off the Orissa coast. This will be the third test firing of the 3,500-km surface-to-surface missile that has been dubbed as a ‘China specific’ missile by military analysts.

The launch is scheduled for Wednesday morning but scientists have given a two-day window for the test firing in case the weather deteriorates.

While the missile has still some time to go before it is ready for induction into India’s strategic forces, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is keeping its fingers crossed for a successful launch to validate the newly developed system.

The first test of the nuclear-capable missile, conducted on July 9, 2006, at the same location, failed as the missile fell short of the target. The DRDO had to wait for almost a year for the next opportunity and successfully test-launched it on April 12, 2007.

Significantly, the test firing comes weeks after China’s new, nearest naval base to India, housing nuclear submarines, was revealed to the world. However, officials insist that there is no connection as the Agni launch was scheduled in advance and had to be postponed for a month following an outcry by environmentalists that the firing would interfere with the hatching cycle of the Oliver Ridley turtles.

While China has for long had missiles that cover entire India, the solid-fuelled Agni-III missile has for the first time given New Delhi the range to strike deep within China and target cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

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.