Agni-I

The Agni missile (Sanskrit: अग्नि, Agnī "Fire") is a family of Short to Intermediate range ballistic missiles developed by India under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. On 28 Mar 2010, a trial was conducted with a special Strategic Forces Command (SFC) nuclear-capable Agni-I ballistic missile, with a range of 700 km from the Wheelers Island off the coast of Orissa, thus making Agni-I missile operational by army. Since then the SFC of the Indian Army has conducted several user trials of Agni-I missile to test its readiness to launch ballistic missiles that carry nuclear warheads. The recent user trials involved the test firing of upgraded version of Agni-I with  better re-entry technology, maneuverability and range extension of up to 700–1,250 km.

History and Development
Agni-I was first tested at the Interim Test Range in Chandipur in 1989, and is capable of carrying a conventional payload of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) or a nuclear warhead. Agni missiles consist of one (short range) or two stages (intermediate range). These are rail and road mobile and powered by solid propellants.

The Agni I has a range of 700–1250 km. They are claimed to be a part of the "Minimum Credible deterrence".

Agni-I is a single stage, solid fuel, road and rail mobile, medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM). The need for the Agni-I was felt after the Kargil war with Pakistan. It took DRDO 15 months to develop the Agni-I after having completed Agni-II development. It is propelled by solid fuel. Maneuvering RV body-lift aerodynamics give it the ability to correct trajectory errors and reduce thermal stresses. The MRV has a velocity correction package to correct launch trajectory variances. Some Agni RV versions use a set of solid fueled thruster cartridges of predetermined impulse, allowing the onboard guidance controller to trim velocity, using discrete combination of impulse quanta along the desired spatial orientation. The 15 metre tall Agni-1 missile, weighing about 12 tonnes, is capable of carrying both conventional as well as nuclear warheads of 1,000 kg. Calculations suggest a distance of 1500 km can, theoretically, be reached if the missile were to be made of composites & carrying a lesser mass of payload.

User trials by Indian Army
Indian Army regularly conducts user trials of the missile mainly to train the user team to launch the missile. The tests are normally conducted by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Indian Army with logistic support from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

On October 5, 2007, a nuclear-capable Agni I was test fired from Wheelers' Island, a defense base in the Bay of Bengal on Orissa coast at Bhadrak, Orissa; and again on March 23, 2008 from the same site.

On 25 Nov 2010 another user trial of Agni-I missile was carried out by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Indian Army wherein the indigenously developed surface-to-surface single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, was test fired from a rail mobile launcher at about 1010 hours from launch pad-4 of the ITR, 100 km off the Orissa coast. This user trial involved the test firing of upgraded version of Agni-I with better re-entry technology, manoeuvrability and range extension of up to 700–900 km.

Agni-I was successfully test fired as a part of a training exercise on 1 December 2011 from the Orissa coast. The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Army executed the trial with logistic support provided by DRDO at the ITR. The Agni-I was fired from a road-mobile launcher (specially designed truck), at 9.30 a.m. and covered its targeted range in 600 seconds of flight. The missile reached its targeted area in the Bay of Bengal with full accuracy.

On 13 July 2012, the SFC conducted another successful user trial from Wheelers' Island. The missile was launched from a road mobile launcher

Operators
Agni-I is used by the 334 Missile Group at Secunderabad, under the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Indian Army,