On Monday, March 11, India declared that a new Agni-V missile, which can carry multiple warheads and hit numerous targets, had been successfully tested. The incorporation of the so-called MIRV technology into this new missile is its most significant feature.
The technology known as MIRV (numerous Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle) dramatically increases the destructive power of missiles by enabling the loading of numerous warheads onto a single missile delivery system and programming them to hit distinct targets.
India’s missile systems have undergone a major upgrade with the introduction of MIRV capabilities, which also increases its nuclear choices.
All about MIRV technology
Conventional missiles are designed to carry a single projectile, or warhead, that is launched toward the target. Missiles with MIRV capability can carry several warheads, each of which can be designed to target a different target. They can all be set to strike the same spot sequentially, ensuring total destruction of the target.
The employment of nuclear weapons has the power to subdue the enemy, even though simultaneous strikes at several targets can weaken their position.
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The technology is not brand-new. It was created in the 1960s, and the US and the Soviet Union used it for the first time in the 1970s. It is a complex technology, though. The warheads must be smaller, have their own navigation and guidance systems, and be launched from the delivery system one after the other in a sequential manner.
This technology has been developed throughout time by France, the United Kingdom, and eventually China. Pakistan has also asserted that it tested the Ababeel missile, which is fitted with a MIRV, in 2017 and 2023.
India’s missile systems have undergone a major upgrade with the introduction of MIRV capabilities, which also increases its nuclear choices.
A missile’s capacity to carry warheads is determined by its design, weight, size, range, and other factors. According to V K Saraswat, the former director of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the one that India tested on Monday is capable of carrying three to four warheads. Some systems have the capacity to carry fifteen or more warheads.
But no missile with a MIRV has ever been deployed in a combat scenario before. MIRV technology, according to proponents of arms control, encourages the desire to launch an initial attack, raising the possibility of nuclear war.
How will MIRV benefit Bharat?
In addition to the obvious benefit of dealing many blows in one blow, MIRV is a highly sought-after military technology for a number of other reasons. Its capacity to get past missile defense systems is one of them.
A network of technology called a missile defense system is designed to identify, track, intercept, and destroy incoming missiles. It entails the use of advanced communication systems, radars, and interceptor missiles. Since it’s thought to be an effective defense against conventional missiles, many nations are building or bolstering their missile defense systems.
However, MIRV-equipped missiles have the potential to break the system. With multiple warheads and their separate trajectories, monitoring and intercepting can become quite difficult.
Furthermore, decoy warheads can be added on MIRV-equipped missiles to trick the enemy defence system. It is therefore quite possible that one or more warheads will breach the defense system’s shield.
Another important strategic advantage is the potential to inflict devastating damage in a counterattack, which is especially advantageous for nations like India that have a no-first-use policy on nuclear weapons. The enemy may be deterred from attacking if the return strike is disproportionate.
Agni-V missile gets an upgrade
The long-awaited addition of MIRV technology to the Agni family of DRDO-developed short-, medium-, and long-range ballistic missiles is a welcome development. India’s primary land-based nuclear bomb delivery system is the Agni missile.
The first-generation Agni missiles were developed in the 1990s and entered service with the military in the middle of the 2000s. Missiles classified as Agni-I to Agni-IV can carry single payloads weighing 12 to 40 kilotons and have a range of 700 to 3,500 km. With MIRV technology installed, Agni-V is capable of traveling over 5,000 kilometers and may even reach the intercontinental range, which is defined as 5,500 km and higher.
Since 2012, Agni-V has undergone numerous tests with updated features and functionalities. Its nighttime capabilities were evaluated on its last trip, which took place in December 2022, among other things.
Agni-P missiles, which are updated versions of the short-range Agni-1 and Agni-2 models, have also been developed by DRDO in the interim. When this missile underwent two tests in 2021, it was anticipated that MIRV technology will be incorporated.
After China created MIRV technology in the last ten years, India eagerly anticipated acquiring it. It was now essential to incorporate this technology into Agni missiles because Pakistan also claimed to have tested a missile using it. It is also anticipated that the next-generation Agni-VI missile, which is presently being developed, will have MIRV technology.
Like he had done five years earlier when DRDO had successfully conducted an anti-satellite test, which was an equally noteworthy technological achievement that put India among a select few nations with the capability to strike at an enemy’s space-based assets, such as satellites, the development was significant enough for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to personally announce it to the nation.
The integrated missile test range of India is located on Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off the coast of Odisha, and this is where Monday’s test was conducted.
