Bhubaneswar, India (AFP) - India successfully tested a short-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads on its east coast, as part of the country's efforts to enhance its atomic deterrent tool.
Missile surface-to-surface Prithvi-II was fired from somewhere in the state of Orissa in eastern India and hit its target in the Bay of Bengal with success, said a defense ministry official.
Prithvi, which was built and developed in the country, can carry nuclear or conventional warheads and has been incorporated into the armed services.
Defence Research Development Organisation and India are developing a series of missiles as part of a strategy of avoidance country against neighboring Pakistan and China which also has nuclear weapons.
The fourth trial Prithvi-II-high nine yards are part of routine exercises of Indian armed forces, defense officials said.
With striking distance of 200 miles (350 kilometers), the missile could carry a warhead weighing 1000 kilograms, according to AFP report.
