India says it has successfully test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead deep inside Chinese territory.
India’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that the “Agni-5” missile was test-fired from a range in Chandipur in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.
“The launch validated all operational and technical parameters,” the ministry said in a statement.
With a strike range of over 5,000 km, the missile is believed to be capable of targeting nearly all of China. The Agni-5 is one of several indigenously developed short- and medium-range Indian ballistic missiles.
The test comes as Indian prime minister Narendra Modi prepares for his first visit to China in years, following a thaw in relations between the two nuclear-powered neighbours.
Relations between India and China, two of the most powerful nations in Asia, plummeted in 2020 following a deadly border clash. But ties between the two improved this year amid rising tariff pressure from US president Donald Trump.
India and China have agreed to resume direct commercial flights and issue tourist visas, while Beijing has reopened two pilgrimage sites in western Tibet to Indians.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi made a rare visit to India this week and met Mr Modi. “Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity,” the Indian prime minister said in a statement after meeting the top Chinese diplomat on Tuesday.
India successfully test-fires Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Agni-5 from ITR Chandipur, Odisha on 20 Aug 2025. All operational & technical parameters validated. Launch conducted under the aegis of Strategic Forces Command.
— Ministry of Defence, Government of India (@SpokespersonMoD) August 20, 2025
Read here: https://t.co/K83tUAAaXy@rajnathsingh…
India is also able to strike anywhere in neighbouring nuclear-powered Pakistan, its arch-rival with which it has fought multiple wars since both nations gained independence from Britain in 1947.
New Delhi and Islamabad stepped back from the brink of an all-out war in May following their worst military escalation in decades, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians in cross-border shelling, as well as drone attacks by both sides.
The Agni-5 missile took its maiden flight test in April 2012 and has since been tested multiple times, every time with added technological advancements. The previous trial of Agni-5 was conducted in March last year, when the missile was test-fired with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology, allowing it to strike multiple targets with a single launch.
The US, the UK, France, China and Russia are among the countries that already use MIRV missiles, while Pakistan tested the technology in 2017, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, a Washington-based advocacy group.
The Indian MIRV missile was developed by the country’s military research arm, the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
First developed by the US in the 1970s, MIRV technology offers strategic advantages by overwhelming enemy defences with multiple warheads.
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