The missile will be capable of being launched from a ship, the report tabled in Parliament said.

This is for the first time that the Government has disclosed the strike range of the naval variant of Prithvi.

Defence Ministry sources said that the missile was likely to be deployed on an ``experimental basis'' on board certain combat ships, by the end of next month.

The Government, in its action taken report on recommendations of the Parliament's standing committee on defence on missiles, said work on the ``longer range'' version of India's formidable intermediate range Agni ballistic missile ``is progressing as per schedule''.

``The Government has already approved the next phase of Agni for development of the longer range system, using state-of-the-art technologies developed indigenously and development work is progressing as perschedule,'' it said.

The report, tabled in Parliament last week, said the surface-to-surface version of Prithvi for the army, with a target range of 150 km, is already under production.

``Prithvi for air force, having a range of 250 km, has successfully completed development phase,'' it said. The report said surface-to-air missiles Trishul and Akash, which are ``capable of neutralising airborne threats at short and medium ranges respectively, are also in advanced stage of testing''.

The report said these missile systems would provide adequate deterrence capability to the country. ``The Government will take all further actions necessary to safeguard the security and integrity of the country.'' The standing committee, comprising members from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, had asked the Government to ``go ahead full steam'' in a ``time-bound'' manner, to develop a full range of missiles in addition to the variant of Agni, currently under development as a deterrent to potential enemies from using their missilecapabilities against any of India's assets. The previous version of Agni, with a range of 1,500 km, has been test fired thrice from the interim test range at Chandipur-On-Sea. Clearance for the development of the longer range variant of Agni was given by the Government recently.According to the committee, Pakistan is continuing its missile development programme which is primarily aimed against India.

Islamabad has reportedly claimed to have targeted its missiles at Indian cities after the May nuclear tests by the two neighbours.

China has also developed a large number of missile systems which could target any part of the country, against which India has ``no credible missile deterrent'', the committee had said.