Agni-IV, India’s surface-to-surface missile with a range of about 4,000 km, will be test-fired from the Wheeler Island, off Dhamra village on the Odisha coast, on January 20. It is a strategic missile which can carry a nuclear warhead weighing about one tonne.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which has developed the Agni-IV, will do the test-firing on Monday from its Integrated Test Range on the Wheeler Island. The missile has already been flight-tested three times. While the maiden launch was a failure, the next two were successful. The two-stage missile weighs 17 tonnes and is 20 metres long.

DRDO officials had earlier said Agni-IV offered a “fantastic nuclear deterrence” because with its range of 4,000 km, “it can cover the entire area on the other side of the border.” While the Army has already deployed Agni-I, II and III missiles, all of which are strategic missiles carrying nuclear warheads, Agni-IV and Agni-V have not been inducted into the Army yet.

The DRDO has achieved two consecutive successes including its debut flight with Agni-V, which can carry a nuclear warhead weighing one tonne over a distance of 5,000 km. The DRDO will fire Agni-V from a canister in two or three months .