Ballistic Missile Capabilities of India

Ballistic Missile Capabilities of India

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In July 2006, the Agni-III surface-to-surface missile was test-fired off the coast of Orissa state. Reports say it can reach targets as far away as Beijing and Shanghai. Click here to read a report on BBC about this event.

The Agni-III is India's most sophisticated long-range missile and is designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

Analysts say it has a range of more than 3,000km (1,865 miles).

Analysts say the Agni-III dramatically increases the range of targets which India could hit.

"This means that India has entered an altogether different league of nations, a new club," Rahul Bedi of Jane's Defence Weekly told Reuters. "We can now reach large parts of northern China, making our deterrence capacity stronger. Also, when a country is able to develop a missile which can travel 3,500km, it is not difficult to make something that can go 5,000km. "Very few nations have that capacity."