Highly-placed sources from the defence research organisation said the earliest probable launch of Agni-III, with a range of 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles), would be after the end of the Indian monsoon season in September.

"The probable window of launch could be after the monsoons when the weather is perfect for us to read all the parameters and functions of the system," a source said.

Agni-III can carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead, according to the sources who did not elaborate on the nature of the weapon or its possible yield in terms of megatons.

India in early 1999 reportedly began developing Agni-III and reports suggest that a planned variant of the ballistic missile will be able to achieve a range of 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles).

On Thursday, India's chief defence scientist V.K. Atre made a similar announcement but without giving details.

"Hopefully, we will test the missile by the end of this year," Atre told reporters during an international airshow in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

He also said India would also soon kick off a sub-sonic missile project and added that his experts could increase the range of India's only cruise missile BrahMos, being developed jointly with Russia.

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BrahMos travels 2.8 times the speed of sound and can hit targets 290 kilometres (180 miles) away with a 300 kilogram (990-pound) non-nuclear warhead.

A US State Department spokeswoman in Washington, meanwhile, said she was "disappointed" at India's plans to fire the long-range Agni-III, adding that it would raise tensions in South Asia.

"We have said frequently in the past that we are disappointed by ballistic missile tests in South Asia," said spokeswoman Tara Riggler.

"Such tests contribute to regional tension and make it harder to prevent a costly amd destabilizing nuclear arms and missile race. Such a race would be a further threat to regional and international security.

"We continue to urge both India and Pakistan to take steps to restrain their nuclear weapons and missile programs including no operational deployment of nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, and to begin dialogue on confidence-building measures that could reduce the likelihood that such weapons would never be used. This could be part of a broader dialogue to reduce tensions."

China has not reacted to the announcement but last month Beijing asked both India and Pakistan to work for peace.

Indian experts assert the upcoming Agni-III test is part of an ambitious project to bolster national security and is not aimed at provoking an arms race with nuclear rival Pakistan.

India last month carried out three short- and medium-range missile tests in 11 days, attracting sharp criticism from Islamabad, which has generally followed such an event with a rival launch of one of its own nuclear-capable missiles.

Already-soured ties are likely to worsen further as India is planning to accelerate the pace of a 20-year-old project to locally develop warhead delivery systems with experiments with new missiles, military sources said.

Agni's first prototype was flight-tested in 1989 and the second in 1992 failed to achieve parameters. The next two experiments were in 1994 with the last one, Agni-II, achieving a range of 1,450 kilometres (900 miles).

Agni-I, re-tested last month, has a range of up to 800 kilometres (496 miles) and is the deadliest of the siblings because of its quick-fire and mobile launch capabilities.

Besides the ballistic missiles, India has nuclear-capable surface Prithvi missiles, with a maximum range of 350 kilometres (217 miles), and an array of other systems built over the past two decades.

All rights reserved. � 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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