NEW DELHI: The final countdown has begun for the second test of India's most ambitious strategic missile. The over 5,000-km Agni-V missile, which will be able to hit even the northernmost part of China, will be test-fired from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast on Sunday.
Top defence officials say the impending Agni-V launch - the first test was conducted on April 19, 2012 - is critical ''because it will pave the way for a canister-launch version'' of the ballistic missile designed to carry a 1.5-tonne nuclear warhead. Such a system - with the 50-tonne missile stored in a hermetically-sealed canister mounted on a launcher truck - will allow the armed forces to swiftly transport and launch the missile from anywhere they want.
The canister-launch missile system for operational flexibility will be ready for testing by early next-year. Once that is done, only three to four tests more would be required for Agni-V's serial production to begin. Full-scale induction should be possible by 2015-16,'' said an official. DRDO scientists, led by defence minister's scientific advisor Avinash Chander, had earlier wanted to test the three-stage Agni-V in June but the early arrival of monsoon put paid those plans.
They are on Wheeler Island now to fine-tune the test on Sunday. "The missile will be tested for the entire range, with the splash or impact point being towards west Australia after its parabolic trajectory halfway across Indian Ocean. International maritime and air advisories have been issued for the test. Indian warships, with tracking and monitoring systems, have also been positioned on the high seas," he said. Once the 17.5-metre tall Agni-V becomes fully operational, India will fully break into the super-exclusive ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) club of the US, Russia, China, France and the UK that wield such missiles.
An ICBM is a missile that typically has a range over 5,500-km. Though DRDO scientists are confident of developing a missile with a higher strike range, the government has assessed that the solid-fuelled Agni-V is enough to meet existing threat perceptions''because only credible strategic deterrence'' is required against Beijing.
China, of course, has a formidable missile arsenal. Its road-mobile DF-31A missile, for instance, can hit targets 11,200-km away, bringing all major Indian cities under its strike envelope. China also has the JL-2 submarine-launched missile with a 7,400-km range. The two-stage Agni-IV, with a 3,500-km strike, in turn, will be ready for induction by 2014-2015. The missile is similar to Agni-V in terms of accuracy and kill efficiencies.
The armed forces have already inducted the Pakistan-specific Agni-I (700-km) and Agni-II (over 2,000-km) as well as the 3,000-km Agni-III. As reported by TOI earlier, defence scientists are also working on maneuvering warheads or re-entry vehicles'' to defeat enemy ballistic missile defence systems as well as MIRVs (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) for the Agni missiles. An MIRV payload implies a single missile carrying several nuclear warheads, each programmed to hit different targets.
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