Context: India successfully test-fired indigenously-developed new generation medium-range ballistic missile Agni Prime.

About Agni Prime missile

• It is a two-stage canisterised solid-propellant ballistic missile.

• As it is canisterised, it can be launched from rail and road and stored for a longer period and transported all across the country.

• It has a dual redundant navigation and guidance system.

• It weighs 50 per cent less than Agni 3.

• Range: Between 1000km to 2000 km.

• It can be used to target enemy armadas in the Indo-Pacific.

• Agni Prime will replace Prithvi, and tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles, Agni-1 and Agni-2.

• Agni Prime is a very short and light missile when compared to other missiles in this class.

• It is a ballistic missile with a rocket-propelled self-guided strategic-weapons system that follows a ballistic trajectory to deliver a payload from its launch site to a predetermined target.

• The missile is capable carrying conventional high explosives as well as chemical, biological or nuclear munitions.

•  With its high accuracy rate and the ability to contain the collateral damage, the ballistic missile can be used for lower-yield nuke bomb.

The Agni Missiles

• The Agni series of ballistic missiles is being developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme of the DRDO.

• India's first intermediate-range ballistic missile Agni 1 was successfully test-fired in 1989 and inducted into service in 2004.

• It has a range between 700 and 900 kilometres.

• Since then, four variants of Agni missile have joined the India's arsenal.

• Agni V made India the eighth nation in the world to have intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capabilities.

• It can target any and target in Asia & half of Europe with its range of 5,000 km and can carry a payload of 1.5 tonnes of nukes.