Agni-III

The Agni-III is an Indian intermediate-range ballistic missile with a stated range of 3,000 to 3,500 kilometres. It is a two-stage solid-propellant missile about 16.7 metres long and 2 metres across, with a launch weight of roughly 48,300 kilograms and a payload of about 1,500 kilograms, and it is carried by rail with road mobility possible. Its warhead is nuclear, in the 200 to 300 kiloton range, with a possible conventional version. India's Advanced Systems Laboratory, part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, began developing it in the late 1990s. The first flight test on 9 July 2006 failed when a thrust vector control problem sealed motor gases badly, and the first successful flight followed on 12 April 2007 over 3,500 kilometres. After further tests the missile was accepted into service in June 2011 and entered service with the Strategic Forces Command, working alongside the Agni-II as a nuclear delivery system. Later production-lot tests succeeded in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017, while a night launch in December 2019 failed after first-stage separation.