India is close to developing ballistic missile Agni-IV, capable of hitting targets upto a range of 6,000 km, cthe ountry's top missile scientist Dr V K Saraswat said in Delhi on Wednesday.
He also said that the Defence Research and Development Organisation would carry out three more tests of nuclear capable 3,000 km range Agni-III missiles over the next 12 months as a part of an initiative to develop an indigenous robust nuclear deterrent.
Though Sarswat said that Agni-IV was still in design stage, DRDO officials were of the view that the first trials of the missiles which would give India an almost inter-continental reach could be held by 2010.
On Agni-III tests, the DRDO official said the second trial of the missile would be done by June 2008 and more tests hopefully in another nine months to a year.
Agni-III, the indigenously developed two-stage all-solid fuel, 16-metre-long missile was first successfully test-fired in April 2007, after initial test failure.
The missile, with a range of 3,000 km and capacity to carry a nuclear or conventional payload of 1.5 tonnes will give India the capability to reach remote Chinese mainland cities of Beijing and Shanghai.
The three tests of the missile are to validate it for induction by 2009, DRDO sources said.
Agni-III according to experts is the missile with the longest reach in South Asia and more powerful than any missile in Pakistan's arsenal. However, China has missiles with a longer reach.
