Agni 5 test fired

India demonstrated its Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capability on Thursday by successfully launching its most powerful and longest range missile, Agni-V, from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast.

The 17-metre-long surface-to-surface ballistic missile lifted off majestically from a rail mobile launcher at 8.04 a.m. After a flight time of 20 minutes, the missile re-entry vehicle impacted the pre-designated target point more than 5,000 kms away in the Indian Ocean with a high degree of accuracy.

V. K. Sarawat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister told The Hindu immediately after the success of the mission, “With this missile launch, India has emerged as a major missile power. We have joined a select group of countries possessing technology to design, develop, build and manufacture long range missiles of this class and technological complexity.”

It was a flawless flight and the three stages jettisoned on time. The third stage fired the re-entry vehicle into the atmosphere at perfect angle at an altitude of 100 kms. The pay load withstood the searing temperatures of around 3000 degree Celsius.

This is the first time India has test fired a three-stage, all solid-fuelled missile. Many new technologies including the state of art navigation system and carbon composite rocket motor casings were tested in the missile. All the radar telemetry and electro optical stations along the coast besides three ships tracked the flight trajectory of the missile and final terminal event at the impact point.

The fireball that erupted when the dummy payload hit the waters of the Indian Ocean was recorded by the cameras on board the ships stationed around the impact point. The missile weighed 50 tonnes and is capable of carrying a nuclear war head weighing 1.1 tonne. However, in this mission, a dummy payload simulating the weight of war head was carried.

Defence Minister A. K. Antony congratulated all the scientists in the mission for the great achievement. Avinash Chander Chief Controller (Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO called it a major achievement and said no other missile in India has achieved more than 5,000 km range. V.G. Sekaran, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), which designed and developed Agni-V, described it an overwhelming success.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Dr. Saraswat and Mr. Avinash Chander, and congratulated all the DRDO scientists and other employees involved in the mission. “You made the nation proud,” Dr. Singh told Dr. Saraswat.

India on Thursday test-fired for the first time its most-ambitious strategic missile, the over 5,000-km range Agni-V, in a bid to join the super exclusive ICBM(intercontinental ballistic missile) club that counts just US, Russia,China, France and UK as its members.


The solid-fuelled Agni-V, which will bring the whole of China as well as other regions under its strike envelope, was tested from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast at 8.07 am.


''We have met all our mission objectives,'' said a jubilant DRD0 chief controller of missiles, Avinash Chander.


DRD0 chief V K Saraswat, in turn, said India had emerged as a major missile power with Thursday's test.


The nuclear-capable, three-stage Agni-V, about 50-tonne in weight and 17.5-metre tall, will become fully operational by 2014-2015 after "four to five repeatable tests" and user trials.


India could have gone for a higher strike range but believes the solid-fuelled Agni-V is "more than adequate'' to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns. The missile can, after all, even hit the northernmost parts of China.


India, of course, cannot match China in terms of its vast nuclear and missile arsenals. But missiles like Agni-V and the 3,500-km Agni-IV, tested last November, will certainly add teeth to its credible minimum nuclear deterrence posture.


With a canister-launch system to impart higher road mobility, the missile will give the armed forces much greater operational flexibility than the earlier-generation of Agni missiles.


"The accuracy levels of Agni-V and Agni-IV, with their better guidance and navigation systems, are far higher than Agni-I (700-km), Agni-II (2,000-km) and Agni-III (3,000-km),'' said the source.


The Agni missiles will get deadlier once MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) payloads for them are developed. An MIRV payload on a missile carries several nuclear warheads, which can be programmed to hit different targets. A flurry of such missiles can hence completely overwhelm BMD (ballistic missile defence) systems.


The surface-to-surface missile Agni-V, which can carry a pay-load of 1 tonne is 17 m long, 2 m wide and weighs 50 tonnes. Agni-5 is a three-stage, all solid fuel powered, 17-metre tall missile with capability to carry various forms of payload. 

It can be launched from land-based mobile platform and has the capability of hitting multiple targets. 

The successful test launch of the missile is a major leap forward for India in the area of military technology and military deterrent capability, making it the fifth country in the world to possess such a technology. 

Only the US, Russia, France and China possess the capability to operate an ICBM.

Senior military officials and the agencies which had participated in development of the missile were present at the Wheeler Island to witness the test launch. 

Following the successful test launch, DRDO plans to conduct more such tests of the missile over the next one year after studying and analyzing the parameters achieved in each subsequent trial. 
In November last year, DRDO had successfully test fired the 3,500 km range Agni-4 missile giving muscle to India’s deterrent capability against the military adversaries.