The Agni-II was first tested on 11 April 1999 at 9:47 am IST (Indian Standard Time), from a converted rail carriage, with a carriage roof that slides open to allow the missile to be raised to the vertical for launch by two large hydraulic pistons.
The Agni-II is always in a ready-to-fire mode and can be launched within 15 minutes as compared to the almost half-of-a-day preparation time for the previous generation Agni-TD.