Agni-V
Agni-V is a land based nuclear MIRV-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India. The missile has a base range of, which can reportedly be extended to intercontinental ballistic missile ranges of more than. It is a three-stage, road-mobile, canisterised and solid-fueled ballistic missile. It is one of the fastest missiles in the world, reaching speeds up to.
Development
Agni-V was primarily intended for enhancing the Indian nuclear deterrence against China. Until the development of the Agni-V, the longest range missile India had was Agni-IV with a range of 4,000 km. If launched from central India this range was not sufficient to reach targets on the extreme eastern and north-eastern region of China. Most of the major economic centers of China lay on its eastern seaboard.Senior defense scientist M. Natarajan disclosed in 2007 that DRDO was working on an upgraded version of the Agni-III, known as the Agni-V, and that it would be ready in 4 years. The missile was to have a range of more than.
It was estimated that the missile would be operational by 2014 to 2015 after four to five repeatable tests. Indian authorities believed that the solid-fueled Agni-V was more than adequate to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns. Even with a range of only 5,000 km, the Agni-V could hit any target in China, including Beijing.
The missile was designed to be easy to transport by road through the utilization of a canister-launch missile system, which is distinct from those of the earlier Agni missiles. Agni-V would also carry multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle payloads.
With a launch mass of around and a development cost of over $292 million, Agni-V incorporated technologies involving ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer for navigation and guidance. It took its first stage from Agni-III, with a modified second stage and a miniaturized third stage enabling it to fly distance of. The second and third stage are completely made of composite material to reduce weight. With a canister-launch system to impart higher road mobility, allowing for greater operational flexibility than the earlier generation of Agni missiles. According to the Agni-V Project Director, Tessy Thomas, the accuracy of Agni-V are far greater than their predecessors.
Modification
DRDO started working on two modified variants of Agni-V in 2025 that could carry up to of air-burst or bunker buster munitions. It is anticipated that the bunker buster type will penetrate deep before detonating, and it is intended to attack hardened facilities buried beneath layers of reinforced concrete. The air-burst type will be used against runways, air bases, and armored formations. Both variants are being designed to target vital military installations, missile silos, and command and control centers in China and Pakistan. The anticipated speed for the modified variants is, with a range of. In the absence of stealth bombers, DRDO decided to use missile as the delivery system for operational flexibility and reduced delivery costs. The aim is to provide conventional means to neutralize targets in preemptive strike.Following Operation Sindoor, which revealed gaps in the Indian Air Force's capacity to eliminate heavily fortified underground targets, the drive for a bunker buster accelerated. The long-planned missile modifications got new impetus following United States strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Given that China and Pakistan have well defended underground installations along their borders and that traditional airstrikes are less effective in hilly and high-altitude regions, these new missile types become strategically important for the Indian Armed Forces.
Deployment
According to media reports that cite official sources, the missile was being deployed by Strategic Forces Command as of July 2018.Description
Propulsion
The Agni-V is a three-stage solid fuelled intermediate-range ballistic missile with composite motor casing in the second and third stage. In many aspects, the Agni-V carries forward the Agni-III pedigree. With composites used extensively to reduce weight, and a third stage added on, the Agni-5 can fly significantly more to inter-continental range.Total flight duration for the first flight test of Agni-V on 20 April 2012 was for 1130 seconds. The first stage ignited for 90 seconds.
Range
The DRDO chief V. K. Saraswat initially declined to disclose the exact range of Agni-V. Later, however, he described Agni V as a missile with a range of 5,500–5,800 km. Du Wenlong, a researcher at China's PLA Academy of Military Sciences, told the Chinese news agency, Global Times, that the missile has a range of around. Wenlong also said that the Indian government had deliberately downplayed the missile's capability in order to avoid causing concern to other countries. The exact range of the Agni-V missile is classified. Business Standard reported that the range of Agni-V can be increased if needed. On 15 December 2022, the first night trial of Agni-V was successfully carried out by the SFC, after which media reports stated that the missile is now 20 percent lighter due to the use of composite materials that can increase the range beyond 7,000 km if required.Guidance and control
A ring laser gyroscope based inertial navigation system is primarily responsible for guiding the Agni-V to its target. However, Agni-V is equipped with another guidance system called micro inertial navigation system as a backup. These are capable of interacting with Indian and foreign satellite navigation systems like NavIC and GPS. Both of these systems have been developed by the Research Centre Imarat. Agni-V uses a system on chip based on-board computer distributed architecture whose weight is around 200 grams for control and guidance. All stages of the missile have nozzle-based control systems. While keeping the inside temperature below 50°C, the atmospheric re-entry barrier can tolerate temperatures of over 4,000°C.Mobility
"The Agni-V is specially tailored for road-mobility," explained Avinash Chander, the Director of ASL. "With the canister having been successfully developed, all India's future land-based strategic missiles will be canisterised as well." Made of maraging steel, a canister must provide a hermetically sealed atmosphere that preserves the missile for years. During firing, the canister must absorb enormous stresses when a thrust of is generated to eject the missile.If the missile is ejected using a gas generator from the canister, then the missile could be launched from any pre-surveyed launch location without the need for any pre-built launch site.
The launcher, which is known as the Transport-cum-Tilting vehicle-5, is a 140-ton, 30-metre, 7-axle trailer pulled by a 3-axle Volvo truck according to the DRDO Newsletter. The canister design will reduce the reaction time drastically...just a few minutes from 'stop-to-launch’. It has an electronic controller for all auto and remote operations, a 23 kVA generator, and a PTO driven hydraulic power pack and therefore can carry out launch operations without any external power source and logistics.
Anti-satellite version
said that an ASAT version is technically possible: ASAT weapon would require reaching about 800 km altitude. Agni-V offers the boosting capability and the 'kill vehicle', with advanced seekers, will be able to home into the target satellite.MIRV
Agni-V has MIRV capability, with each missile being capable of carrying around 10-12 separate maneuverable nuclear warheads. Each warhead can be assigned to a different target, separated by hundreds of kilometers; alternatively, two or more warheads can be assigned to one target. According to DRDO sources, a MIRV payload would be significantly heavier since it would consist of several nuclear warheads, each of them weighting about 400 kilograms. A 5-warhead MIRV configuration, therefore, would weigh two to four tonnes.As of 2012, the primary module for MIRV was in an advanced stage of development. It will be deployed when deemed necessary, according to officials. The MIRV capability of Agni-V has been tested indirectly in a discreet manner, according to Bharat Karnad, who was involved in drafting India's nuclear doctrine. Karnad states that the MIRV capability of the missile's guidance system on chip was tested during the multi-satellite PSLV-C20 launch on 25 February 2013. On 11 March 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the successful completion of Mission Divyastra, the country's maiden flight test of the Agni-V missile using MIRV technology, which was developed in-house.
In addition to the live warhead, Agni-V can also use decoys to avoid detection. Carbon composites are used in the manufacturing process to ensure that the warhead can survive high temperatures and not disintegrate during the re-entry phase.
Testing
Preparation for testing
The then Indian defense minister A. K. Antony, addressing the annual DRDO awards ceremony, asked defense scientists to demonstrate the missile's capability at the earliest opportunity. DRDO chief V. K. Saraswat told Times of India in mid-2011 that DRDO had tested the three solid-propellant composite rocket motor stages of Agni-V independently and all ground tests had been completed. In September 2011, Saraswat confirmed that the first test flight would be conducted in 2012 from Abdul Kalam Island.In February 2012, a source revealed that DRDO was almost ready for the test, but there were scheduling and logistical issues since the missile was to traverse halfway across the Indian Ocean. Countries like Indonesia and Australia as well as international air and maritime traffic in the test zone had to be alerted 7– 10 days before the test. Moreover, Indian Navy warships, with DRDO scientists and tracking and monitoring systems, were to be positioned midway and near the impact point in the southern Indian Ocean.