India may join a select club of countries that possess or are about to possess an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) as hectic preparations are on for the launch of Agni-V missile from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha Coast on Wednesday.
The test fire of the missile will be conducted from a test range in Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.
DRDO Chief V.K. Saraswat had recently said the missile is being integrated at various facilities for the test launch which will be witnessed by military officials and other agencies which participated in its development.
Only the US, Russia, France and China possess the capability to operate an ICBM.
DRDO plans to conduct more such tests of the missile over the next one year after studying and analyzing the parameters achieved in each subsequent trial.
On the timeline fixed for fully developing Agni-V, Saraswat had said another one year of testing will be involved.
In November 2011, DRDO had successfully test fired the 3,500 km range Agni-4 missile giving muscle to India's deterrent capability against the military adversaries.
DRDO has also placed necessary equipments to collect data on the trajectory and flight of the missile and other necessary data which will be studied further for its future development.
Agni-V will be a three-stage, all solid fuel powered, 17-metre tall missile with capability to carry various forms of payload, officials said.