India is preparing to test-fire a new K-4 submarine-launch ballistic missile from an underwater platform in the last week of this month.

That was reported by www.newindianexpress.com.

A defence sources said the indigenously built most powerful underwater missile having a strike range of around 3,500 km will be test fired from a submerged pontoon, which is almost identical to a submarine, on January 31.

Though the missile has been designed to be launched from a depth of 50 metres, this time the scientists are planning to fire it from the undersea platform nearly 20-30 metre deep in the Bay of Bengal.

A defence official said while the preparation for the test is going on in full swing, tracking equipment has been moved in ships to be placed at test location and point of impact.

Having a length of 12 metres and diameter of 1.3 metres, K-4 missile weighs around 17 tonne and is capable of carrying a warhead of around two tonne. Basically a ballistic missile, the K-4 combines the aspects of both cruise and ballistic missile, which use multiple-stage rockets to exit the atmosphere and re-enter in a parabolic trajectory.

The country’s first indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant has already been inducted in the Indian Navy and this submarine will be equipped with the K-series missiles.