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India has taken a historic leap in its nuclear technological capabilities with the Agni 5 missile, which conducted its maiden test flight on March 11. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Indian scientists for this achievement. The indigenous Agni-5 missile has Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology. With this, India has joined the group of select countries with MIRV capability.
MIRV technology allows a single missile to deploy multiple warheads at different locations. This marks a significant development in India’s technological power. Currently, six countries are known to have MIRV technology. This includes America, Russia, China, North Korea, Israel and now India.
India’s nuclear arsenal
This technology was developed by America during the Cold War. The idea of MIRV is that a single nuclear missile can carry multiple warheads and target different locations. News9 Plus editor Sandeep Unnithan said that it also helps in evading anti-missile defense. This is an important development for India’s nuclear arsenal.
Why is China worried?
MIRVs are typically part of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Unnithan explains that ICBMs generally launch at 5,500 km, which is the Agni 5 missile. Agni 5 is the longest range missile with the Indian Army. This increases the firepower of India’s nuclear arsenal.
Agni-5 can be launched from a rail car or a multi-wheeler cross country vehicle. Although complete information has not been revealed, there are enough reasons to believe that Agni 5 is an ICBM. The first is a pre-test notice, specifying a no-fly zone over a very long funnel from the Bay of Bengal to the northern Indian Ocean. Another important indicator that it is a ballistic missile, says Unnithan, is the presence of a Chinese spy ship in the Bay of Bengal tracking the test.
Only a few countries have this technology
Only a few countries have this technology because it is difficult to master. Thus, this is the latest achievement of India’s concern for our enemy neighbor China. Agni-5 will likely be launched from the Indian mainland which will allow us to target large parts of China, our main rival in terms of nuclear deterrence. Pakistan is also believed to be developing its own MIRV. It is called Ababil, many tests have already been done on it.
Anti-ballistic missile technology also updated
The decoy capability makes MIRV a very smart technology. Many countries like America and Russia deploy fake weapons. A MIRV with 10-12 warheads, or 5 to 6 in the case of Agni 5, will have several dummy warheads to confuse enemy anti-missile defense systems. Over the past 50 to 60 years since MIRVs have been developed, anti-ballistic missile technology has also updated. Unnithan explains that the purpose of MIRV is to deceive the enemy and penetrate their anti-missile defense shield.
Full blown ICBM
While MIRV technology is decades old, it is so difficult that very few countries have been able to improve it. But the ultimate goal of every country with a nuclear arsenal is to acquire MIRV. Unnithan says that Agni 5 is not a full-fledged ICBM. It is a threshold ICBM. Meanwhile Agni 6, which is in development, will go well above 6,000 km.
We have two parallel programs for ICBMs. There is a fire chain, which is mainly land based. We also have K series missiles that launch underwater. They are small, light and carried by submarines. Both do basically the same thing. They carry nuclear weapons and are for deterrence.
