(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-13 16:56

NEW DELHI - India is to launch a 5,000-km nuclear-capable inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) next year, local newspaper the Indian Express quoted scientists from Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as saying Thursday.

At a press conference Wednesday, VK Saraswat, the program director of the DRDO's air defense project said, "the launch of Agni-IV (ICBM) is scheduled for June 2008."

With the indigenously developed missile, India is perhaps one of the very few countries in the world to possess the technology, the report said.

"The launch of Agni-IV is on the anvil and plans are afoot for further tests of Agni-III (3,000-km), which has been successfully test fired in April. The tests will enable us validate the parameters for the Agni-IV," he said.

Saraswat said that the Agni-III will be inducted into the Indian armed forces in three years. He also said the ballistic missile defense (BMD) system, which can eliminate targets at a height of 15 km, would be ready for deployment in army in two to three years.

On December 6, DRDO scientists had conducted an advanced air defense (AAD) missile test.

Related stories: Pakistan test-fires cruise missile