Hyderabad: India's state-of-the-art anti-tank missile Nag has been successfully test fired for the first time from a vehicle that will actually be used in battlefield, a Defence official said today (June 15, 2004).

The missile was fired from BMP-II vehicle and scored a direct hit at a target two kilometers away, Nag project director S S Mishra told. The test took place on June 10, he said.

This is the 40th test of fully assembled Nag and the first to be fired from a platform that will be used during real battle, he said.

Previous flights had taken place from makeshift launchers.

Mishra said it was also the first missile to be test fired from the Shamirpet firing range near Hyderabad. Earlier tests were performed at Ahmednagar.

Equipped with an infrared homing sensor for day and night operation, the fire-and-forget missile can destroy a tank four kilometers away by diving into the tank from the top which is vulnerable.