Agni-V rises India's potent

After a delayed launch of Agni 5 which was expected to travel 5,000 km to accurately strike a target in the southern Indian Ocean and it did satisfy the expectation. India now joined an exclusive group of nations, including US, China, Britain, France, Russia and Israel with long range weapon capability.

According to David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times, India's missile launch does not come as a surprise.

"The Chinese have seen this coming," Sanger said. "To India, China is the big worry, and a huge border. So they want it clear to the Chinese that they can reach all of their major population centres."

Defence Research and Development Organisation Chief V K Saraswat declared that the agni programme would continue and there was no question of capping India’s missile programme.

Also addressing a press conference here Mr.Saraswat said “ Our development needs are based on today’s threats, and also evolving threats. Today in a short time we have gone from Agni-4 to Agni-5. We have a threat profile evolving and i am not sure it will remain static”

So whats the technology used?

            

                     The technology called multiple, independently targetable and re-entry vehicle (MIRVs) is used. This big enhancement will involve capability of hitting several different enemy targets with multiple warheads on a single machine.

Avinash Chander, DRDO’s chief controller of missiles, explained such a missile would be “all-composite. The primary modules of MIRV are in advanced stage of development. Realisation and integration of them into a weapon is just a question of threat perceptions and the need as it arises”

Reactions from China:

           

Chinese strategic experts have said that India's Agni-V missile has a potential to strike targets 8,000 kms away and the launch of the long-range weapon shows that India is making concrete efforts to become a world power.

A top People's Army researcher Du Wenlong said that India has downplayed the rocket's capability to avoid causing concern to other countries. He said that the missile's range was actually 8,000 kms and not 5,000 as claimed by Indian scientists.

The launch of the India's most potent missile continued to make waves among Chinese analysts and media with a daily screaming 'India launches rocket that could hit Shanghai'.

China Daily said, "Missile test puts China in range".

"India has been seeing China as a goal or a competitor for its own development, military power included," Fu said adding that "China does not see India as a threat in reality".

"The development of India helps push forward the multi-polarisation of the world," he said.

So the success of Agni-V has meanwhile opened up possibilities for the Indian defence scientists to step into the domain where they could come up with a single ballistic missile to eliminate multiple targets...

Posted in: News