DHAKA: India on Saturday succeeded for the first time in using a mobile launcher to test-fire a long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead deep inside rival China.

Although Saturday’s launch was the third test of the Agni V missile, it was the first time the weapon had been fired from a so-called canister mounted on a truck rather than from a concrete launchpad used in previous trials.

The new delivery mechanism gives the armed forces increased operational flexibility.

‘Successful test-firing of Agni V from a canister makes the missile a prized asset for our forces,’ India Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter after the test on an island off the eastern state of Orissa, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1552 HRS, JAN 31, 2015