Ballistic Missile: Is a missile that follows a suborbital path with the
objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target
Types of Ballastic Missiles
Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) —
•Ranges under 1,000 km
Medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) —
•Ranges between 1,000 km and 3,000 km
Intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) —
•Ranges between 3,000 km and 5,500 km
Intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs, SLBMs) —
•Limited-range ICBMs (LRICBMs): 5,500 to 8,000 km
•Full-range ICBMs (FRICBMs): > 8,000 km
•Ranges of US and Russian ICBMs are ~ 12,000 km
These categories are not fluid, because they are based on
the
performance characteristics of the missile.
Agni-III is an
intermediate-range ballistic missile developed by India as the successor to
Agni-II.
The ballistic missile
has a range of 3,500 km- 5500 km
During the course of
flight, the Missile reached a peak height of 350 km and re-entered into the
atmosphere successfully tolerating the skin temperatures of nearly 3000 ˚C.
India became 7th
country in the world to develop and operate Intermediate Range ballistic
missile.
Now India has a
strategic advantage against China over composite dialogues as Agni III can
cover whole of the China in its range.