The Agni V ICBM on parade in New Delhi
On 18 January 2018, personnel of the Indian armed forces testfired the 5,000-km-plus Agni-5 Interim Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM). The test, conducted from Kalam Island in the Bay of Bengal, achieved all the mission parameters that had been stipulated. The last test of Agni-5 had been conducted on 26 December 2016. After additional user trials over the next twelve to eighteen months, the nuclear-capable Agni-5 missile will be inducted into India’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC). Normally, five to seven tests are carried out, including technical trials and user trials, before a missile is inducted into the arsenal. After operationalisation of Agni-5, all targets in China will come within range of India, with the Chinese reportedly concerned at this development.
The 4,000-km Agni-4 IRBM had been successfully test-fired by personnel of the SFC from the same launch facility on 2 January 2017. After these two tests, the credibility of India’s nuclear deterrence has received a boost.
A Prithvi SRBM launch
Under the aegis of its Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), which was approved by the Government on 26 July 1983, India has achieved considerable success in ballistic missile development. The Prithvi Short Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM) (1-metre diameter, 150 km to 350 km range, liquid-fuelled) and multiple models of the Agni IRBM (800 km to 5,000 km range, solid-fuelled) have provided India with an assured retaliation capability. Though exact details are not known in the public domain, DRDO spokespersons have shared sufficient information to allow for an assessment of the missiles’ capabilities. While the Agni-5 is still under development, the Agni- 4 is reported to be ready for deployment. According to a Ministry of Defence press release, “Agni-3 was inducted to strengthen India’s strategic might and joined Agni-1, Agni-2, Prithvi-2 and Dhanush (the naval version of Prithvi capable of being launched from ships even under extreme sea conditions).”
Agni V
in test launch
Agni IRBMs
are mainstay of the surface-to-surface component of India’s strategic forces.
With the exception of the Agni-1, all Agni missiles are fully solid-fuelled
with carbon composite heat shields for re-entry protection. All of the Agni
variants are known to be extremely accurate and use navigation systems based on
a combination of ring laser gyros and inertial navigation. Presently, at least
two Agni missile groups are reported to be in service.
India’s
successful experience in space research, particularly the launch of multiple
satellites on a single rocket, has endowed scientists with the capability to
master MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) technology.
In view of recent R&D developments in China, it was considered expedient to
commence a research programme on MIRV systems as a technology demonstrator.
Costing Rs. 100 crore per missile, the Agni-5, with a range of 5,000 km-plus,
is known to be capable of carrying MIRV warheads. At its maximum range, the
Agni-5 can even reach Harbin, China’s northernmost city (according to Chinese
officials, the maximum range of Agni-5 is 8,000 km). A canisterised version of
the Agni-5 was first test-fired on 15 January 2015. The process of
canisterisation implies that the warhead will be mated with the missile for
storage, not stored separately and mounted on the missile shortly before
launch.
Dr VK
Saraswat, the former DRDO chief, said the Agni-5 had ‘ushered in fantastic opportunities
in…building Anti-Satellite (ASAT) weapons and launching mini/micro satellites
on demand’. The Agni-5, like the Dongfeng 31A, is a canisterised, road mobile
missile. According to Avinash Chander, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory,
Hyderabad, ‘With the canister having been successfully developed, all India’s
future land-based strategic missiles will be canisterised as well.’ The DRDO is
also reported to have plans to develop the Agni-6 Inter-Continental Ballistic
Missile (ICBM), which will be capable of carrying a 3-ton payload of MIRVs and
manoeuvrable re-entry vehicles (MaRVs). The range of this missile, made of
light weight composite materials, is expected to be over 5,500 km. However, the
existence of such a programme is as yet officially denied!
Prithvi-1
(150 km-range), Prithvi-2 (250 km, IAF version) and Prithvi-3 (350 km) Surface
to Surface Missiles (SSM) are all nuclear-capable. Prithvi missiles are liquid
fuelled with strap-down inertial guidance and a manoeuvrable trajectory;
accuracies are claimed to be in single digits and the circular error
probability (CEP) is likely to be less than 100 metre. These dual use missiles
are capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg warheads. It is now increasingly
believed that the Prithvi-1 missile was never intended to carry nuclear
warheads. Six Prithvi missile groups are reported to still be in service.
As soon as
Agni-1 regiments are fully operational and the missiles have been produced in
the required numbers, it should be possible to retire the Prithvi missiles from
service with the SFC. However, these missiles are likely to continue to be used
for conventional conflict and as part of the ballistic missile defence (BMD)
technology development programme till these become obsolete. A modified Prithvi
missile is the interceptor in the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) system for
exo-atmospheric interception. It is also used as a target for an incoming
missile.
India has
some other missiles in its arsenal. The Dhanush SSM is a ship-to-surface
variant of Prithvi-3 with a maximum range of 350 km, while Nirbhay is a
subsonic (Mach 0.7) cruise missile with a maximum range of 1,000 km. Of the
Tomahawk and Kh-57 class, it carries a 450 kg high-explosive warhead and was
successfully tested in November 2017. Prahar is a highly manoeuvrable,
precision strike tactical SSM with a range of 150 km and is armed with a
conventional warhead. Comparable to the US Army Tactical Missile System
(ATACMS), it has been conceived as a quick-reaction battlefield support weapon
system that fills the range gap between multi-barrel rocket launchers (MBRLs)
and SRBMs. All of these missiles have been indigenously developed by the
Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru, and have been produced
by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Secunderabad. The rate of production of Agni
missiles is reported to be twelve to eighteen per annum.
India does
not maintain its missile launchers on hair-trigger alerts as India’s ‘no first
use’ posture does not require launch-on-warning (LoW) and launch-through-attack
(LTA) capabilities. Alert levels are planned to be progressively raised based
on intelligence inputs or for the purpose of signalling. As India shares its
western borders with Pakistan, the time of flight of ballistic missiles ranges
from eight to thirteen minutes for a target between 600 km and 2,000 km away.
Deployment sites – hides and firing positions – are selected keeping this in
mind, besides other tactical parameters. Depending on the level of alert being
maintained, preparation time for launch can vary from one to four hours. When
deployed, missile batteries would be provided logistics support by the nearest
field formation of the Army and helped with their local defence where feasible.
Brigadier (R) Gurmeet Kanwal