India tests hard-to-beat nuclear missile with multiple warheads

New Delhi: India has test fired a new version of its long-range Agni-V nuclear missile, which makes it harder to be taken down by air defence systems, and gives a single missile the ability to hit multiple targets deep in enemy territory.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement on social media platform X on Monday, saying that he is proud of the scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation for the achievement.

"Proud of our DRDO scientists for Mission Divyastra, the first flight test of indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology," the PM posted.


His words were echoed by defence minister Rajnath Singh on X, "Congratulations to our DRDO scientists and the entire team for this exceptional success. India is proud of them!"

With the test, India joins a select league of nations with the MIRV technology. At present, US, Russia, UK, France and China have operational MIRV missiles in their arsenal.

The DRDO has been working on the MIRV technology for over a decade but formal approvals by the government to go ahead with the programme have been received recently. With the MIRV technology, a single ballistic missile can carry multiple warheads that can independently be used to strike targets. On Monday, it was tested on the Agni-V which has a range of over 5,000 km.

"This 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 capability is an enunciator of India's growing technological prowess," government sources said, adding that the project director is a woman scientist.

Given the global improvement in missile defence systems, the MIRV technology is considered essential to have an assured hit on the target. India has a no-first use policy for nuclear weapons and has built a deterrence capability that is centred around the ability to respond to a nuclear strike with accuracy and speed. The MIRV capability significantly increases the survivability of a nuclear missile in the face of modern air defence systems.