NEW DELHI: India successfully tested its most formidable nuclear-capable Agni-5 ballistic missile, which has a strike range of over 5,000-km to reach even the northernmost parts of China, from the integrated test range at Chandipur in Odisha on Wednesday.
“The launch validated all operational and technical parameters. It was carried out under the aegis of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC),” the defence ministry said in a brief statement.
The test comes over a year after the Agni-5 was tested for the first time with a multiple-warhead capability or MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle) technology under 'Mission Divyastra' on March 11, 2024.
It will take a few years for the Agni-5 with MIRV to become operational after multiple tests. A MIRV payload basically means a single missile carrying three-four nuclear warheads, each programmed to be released at different speeds with different trajectories to hit different targets that can be hundreds of kms apart.
As of now, the tri-Service SFC, which was established in 2003 to handle the country’s nuclear arsenal, only has single-warhead ballistic missiles in its arsenal.
They range from the Pakistan-specific Prithvi-2 (350-km strike range) and Agni-1 (700-km) missiles to Agni-2 (2,000-km), Agni-3 (3,000-km) and the near ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) Agni-5, which are largely geared towards China.
“The test of the solid-fuelled, three-stage Agni-5 on Wednesday was a routine training trial carried out periodically by the SFC of already inducted missiles,” an official said.
Significantly, the Agni-5 is a canister-launch missile, with a mated warhead in a ready-to-fire configuration. The hermetically-sealed canisters, while protecting the missiles from the environment, give the SFC the requisite operational flexibility to store them for long periods, swiftly transport them through rail or road, and fire it from wherever they want.
India is also steadily working towards strengthening its nuclear triad, with the naval leg set to be augmented with the commissioning of a third SSBN (nuclear-powered submarine armed nuclear ballistic missiles) as INS Aridhaman this year. The first two SSBNs, INS Arihant and INS Arighaat, are already operational.
Parallelly, DRDO and the SFC have also been conducting “pre-induction night trials” of the new-generation and canister-launch Agni-Prime ballistic missile, which has a strike range from 1,000 to 2,000-km and will gradually replace the Agni-1 and Agni-2 missiles in the country’s nuclear arsenal.
China, of course, has ICBMs like the DongFeng-5 and DF-41 with ranges over 12,000-km. It is also adding around 100 nuclear warheads every year to its existing stockpile of 600 warheads.
As per the latest assessment by the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI) released in June, China’s nuclear arsenal is growing faster than any other country and is likely to touch 1,500 warheads by 2035. India, in turn, has 180 warheads and Pakistan 170.
“The launch validated all operational and technical parameters. It was carried out under the aegis of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC),” the defence ministry said in a brief statement.
The test comes over a year after the Agni-5 was tested for the first time with a multiple-warhead capability or MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle) technology under 'Mission Divyastra' on March 11, 2024.
It will take a few years for the Agni-5 with MIRV to become operational after multiple tests. A MIRV payload basically means a single missile carrying three-four nuclear warheads, each programmed to be released at different speeds with different trajectories to hit different targets that can be hundreds of kms apart.
As of now, the tri-Service SFC, which was established in 2003 to handle the country’s nuclear arsenal, only has single-warhead ballistic missiles in its arsenal.
They range from the Pakistan-specific Prithvi-2 (350-km strike range) and Agni-1 (700-km) missiles to Agni-2 (2,000-km), Agni-3 (3,000-km) and the near ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) Agni-5, which are largely geared towards China.
“The test of the solid-fuelled, three-stage Agni-5 on Wednesday was a routine training trial carried out periodically by the SFC of already inducted missiles,” an official said.
Significantly, the Agni-5 is a canister-launch missile, with a mated warhead in a ready-to-fire configuration. The hermetically-sealed canisters, while protecting the missiles from the environment, give the SFC the requisite operational flexibility to store them for long periods, swiftly transport them through rail or road, and fire it from wherever they want.
India is also steadily working towards strengthening its nuclear triad, with the naval leg set to be augmented with the commissioning of a third SSBN (nuclear-powered submarine armed nuclear ballistic missiles) as INS Aridhaman this year. The first two SSBNs, INS Arihant and INS Arighaat, are already operational.
Parallelly, DRDO and the SFC have also been conducting “pre-induction night trials” of the new-generation and canister-launch Agni-Prime ballistic missile, which has a strike range from 1,000 to 2,000-km and will gradually replace the Agni-1 and Agni-2 missiles in the country’s nuclear arsenal.
China, of course, has ICBMs like the DongFeng-5 and DF-41 with ranges over 12,000-km. It is also adding around 100 nuclear warheads every year to its existing stockpile of 600 warheads.
As per the latest assessment by the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI) released in June, China’s nuclear arsenal is growing faster than any other country and is likely to touch 1,500 warheads by 2035. India, in turn, has 180 warheads and Pakistan 170.
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