INDIA ON Monday successfully tested a new-age Agni-5 ballistic missile equipped to carry multiple warheads, each of which is capable of hitting a separate target. The test marks a long-awaited upgrade of India’s missile system and significantly enhances its strike capability, including the nuclear option.
This ability to carry multiple warheads on a single missile, called MIRV or Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle, is a technology that originated five decades ago, but is in possession of only a handful of countries — the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom and France. Last year, Pakistan also claimed to have tested a MIRV-equipped missile, Ababeel.
Underlining the significance of the test, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it himself in a congratulatory message for Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), much like he had done five years ago when India had carried out an anti-satellite test.
“Proud of our DRDO scientists for Mission Divyastra, the first flight test of indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology,” Modi said in a message posted on ‘X’.
Agni is a long-range missile developed indigenously by the DRDO. The family of Agni missiles have been in the arsenal of the Indian armed forces since the early 1990s.
Missiles equipped with MIRV technology can aim multiple targets that can be located hundreds of kilometres apart. Agni-5, which can carry nuclear warheads and hit targets more than 5,000 km away, is aimed mainly at thwarting the challenge from China. It uses a three-stage solid-fuelled engine.
Dr V K Saraswat, former head of DRDO, said MIRV technology significantly increased the potency of Agni-5 missile.
“In the latest flight test, we are carrying more than one warhead. The advantage of these warheads is that they are smart and intelligent and could be controlled to hit multiple specific targets, thus covering a larger area of influence. Thus, it is a force multiplier,” he said.
Source: Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation
He said the MIRV-equipped Agni-5 missiles developed by DRDO could carry three to four warheads. The mother missile can release different payloads at different velocities and altitudes for different targets and the warheads can be autonomously guided to a pre-determined target location.
“India has a no-first-use nuclear policy. So, in the instance of a (nuclear) attack, India’s response has to be stronger and of a higher potency to inflict large damage,” he said. The MIRV technology will give India that capability and thus act as a deterrence, Saraswat said.
Dr Tessy Thomas, former head of the Aeronautical Systems of DRDO who had been handling the Agni project till last year, said the successful flight test of the missile was a proud moment for the country.
The Agni 1 to 4 missiles have ranges from 700 km to 3,500 km and have already been deployed. This included medium to intercontinental versions. Agni-5 has been successfully tested several times since 2012.
Monday’s test follows the two tests of Agni-P missile in 2021. Agni-P are modernised versions of the older generation Agni-1 and Agni-2 missiles equipped with latest technologies. In December 2022, DRDO also tested the night-time capabilities of Agni-5. The next upgrade of Agni missile, Agni-6, is expected to be a full-fledged intercontinental ballistic missile with a range well over 7,000 km.
Government sources said the DRDO development team of MIRV-equipped Agni-5 missile was headed by a woman and included many other women scientists. While DRDO sources did not reveal the identity of the person heading the programme, a 2023 DRDO newsletter named Sheena Rani, scientist and associate director of DRDO’s Advanced Systems Laboratory, as programme director of Agni.
With a range of more than 5,000 km, the Agni-5 is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead of more than one tonne. (Express file photo) 
Source: Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation
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