India successfully test-fires surface-to-surface ballistic missile Agni-5

India, on Wednesday, successfully launched surface-to-surface ballistic missile Agni-5 from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha in Balasore. The missile, which uses a three-stage solid-fuelled engine, is capable of striking targets at ranges up to 5,000 kilometres with a very high degree of accuracy.

The launch took place at 7:50 pm today. The successful test of Agni-5 is in line with India’s stated policy to have ‘credible minimum deterrence’ that underpins the commitment to ‘No First Use’, the government said in a statement.

The missile is the bedrock of India's nuclear deterrent along with submarine-based nuclear missiles, which had not yet been tested to anywhere close to this range.


Key Highlights:
• Agni-5 capable of striking targets at ranges up to 5,000 kilometres with very high degree of accuracy
• Uses a three-stage solid fuelled engine
• Successful launch in line with India’s policy to have ‘credible minimum deterrence’ that underpins the commitment to ‘No First Use’

The missile is about 17-metre long, 2-metre wide and has launch weight of around 50 tonnes. It can carry a nuclear warhead of more than one tonne. At present, India has in its armoury of Agni series, Agni-1 with 700 km range, Agni-2 with 2,000 km range, Agni-3 and Agni-4 with 2,500 km to more than 3500 km range.

Few weeks ago, a US congressional report also stated that India is among the select few countries which are developing hypersonic missiles. India has collaborated with Russia on the development of BrahMos II, a Mach 7 hypersonic cruise missile, the CRS report said.

India is also developing an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile as part of its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle programme and successfully tested a Mach 6 scramjet in June 2019 and September 2020.