NEWS – India  announced the successful testing of an Agni missile capable of carrying multiple warheads meant to hit multiple targets simultaneously. The success of Mission Divyastra, as the test was named, was announced by Prime Minister

HIGHLIGHTS

• Aimed at bolstering India’s nuclear deterrence against China, which is known to have missiles such as Dongfeng-41 having ranges between 12,000 and 15,000 kilometers
• Developed by the DRDO for over a decade
• Has Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology, which ensures that a single missile can deploy multiple war heads at different locations.
• The system is equipped with indigenous Avionics systems and high accuracy sensor packages, which ensured that the re-entry vehicles reached the target points within the desired accuracy.
• The Agni-5 missile is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of 5,500 to 5,800 kilometres.
• Until the advent of Agni-5, India’s longest-range missile was Agni-III, with a capability of reaching up to 3,500 kilometres, insufficient to cover the extreme eastern and northeastern regions of potential adversaries.
• India is working towards the strengthening of the nuclear triad, which is a capability of launching nuclear missiles from land, air and sea.
• Agni-V can bring almost the entire Asia, including the northernmost part of China, as well as some regions in Europe under its striking range. This missile has the farthest range in the history of India’s weapons program. It is also the first missile to be launched at its maximum operational range, which exceeds 5,000 kilometers.

WHAT MAKES MIRV TECHNOLOGY SPECIALLY LETHAL?

• In contrast to a traditional missile, which carries one warhead, MIRVs can carry multiple warheads. Warheads on MIRVed missiles can be released from the missile at different speeds and in different directions.”
• The development of MIRV technology is not easy. It requires the combination of large missiles, small warheads, accurate guidance, and a complex mechanism for releasing warheads sequentially during flight
• While the USA had the technology in 1970 and the Soviet Union followed suit in the same decade, since then, only a few countries have the MIRV capabilities, a club India has now joined