Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was appointed as the first director of the Integrated Test Range in 1982. Following the successful demonstration of the Prithvi missile in October 1993, the Indian Army requested the DRDO to conduct a confirmatory test on a land range to validate circular error probability. The Army was not convinced that the missile met the specified 150 meters accuracy, and wanted it fired on land to clearly view its impact point. The DRDO was unable to conduct the test at its desert range in Rajasthan because of concerns about range safety and geopolitical issues, and ruled out the Andaman and Nicobar Islands because they were far from the mainland. The agency decided to seek an uninhabited island off India's east coast to resolve the issue. The Indian Navy supplied DRDO with a hydrographic map on which Kalam spotted three small islands off Dhamra's coast, which were marked on the map as Long Wheeler, Coconut Wheeler and Small Wheeler.
