Agni-I

The Agni-I is an Indian short-range ballistic missile with a stated range of about 700 kilometers, fielded by the Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Army and accepted into service in 2007. It is a single-stage, solid-propellant, road-mobile and rail-mobile weapon about 15 meters long and 1 meter in diameter, with a launch weight near 12,000 kilograms and a payload of about 1,000 kilograms. It can carry a conventional unitary or submunition warhead or a nuclear warhead of 20 or 45 kilotons. The design grew out of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program, begun in 1983, in which the Defence Research and Development Organisation built an Agni technology demonstrator, first flown in 1989, to validate reentry vehicle technology. After the reentry studies ended, the organisation reconfigured the demonstrator as the single-stage Agni-I. Development began in 1999, flight tests followed in 2002 and 2003, and full-rate production was approved in August 2004. With a reduced payload its reach may extend to about 1,200 kilometers, enough to cover all of Pakistan.