Agni-V


Agni-V is an intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India. Agni V is part of the Agni series of missiles, under the original Integrated Guided Missile Development Program.
In May 2012, reports confirmed the development of another ICBM in the Agni series, a three-stage Agni VI missile. It was purposed that the missile will be developed in 2014 or so and will have an even longer range, up to 5,000 km. The Agni VI will be sleeker than the Agni-V and capable of carrying at least 10 nuclear warheads, capable of targeting multiple targets at the same time. In January 2013, DRDO chief V K Saraswat said that after the development of Agni V, DRDO will develop Agni VI, which will have Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle capability. He said that the missile design has been completed and DRDO is in the hardware realisation phase. In September 2013, DRDO chief said that India can achieve a missile with a range of 10,000 km within "two and a half years", adding that increasing the range of a missile is the least challenging task.

Development

Agni V is primarily for enhancing India's nuclear deterrence against China. Until recently, the longest range missile India had was Agni-III with a range of 3000–3500 km. This range was not sufficient to reach targets on the extreme eastern and northeastern region of China. Most of the important economic centers of China lay on its eastern seaboard.
Senior defence scientist M. Natrajan disclosed in 2007 that DRDO was working on an upgraded version of the Agni III, known as the Agni-V, and that it would be ready in 4 years. The missile was to have a range of more than.
It was estimated that the missile will be operational by 2014 to 2015 after four to five repeatable tests. Indian authorities believed that the solid-fuelled Agni-V is more than adequate to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns. Even with a range of only 5,000 km, the Agni-V could hit any target in China, including Beijing. The missile will allow India to strike targets across Asia and into Europe. The missile's range will allow the Indian military to target all of China from Agni-5 bases in central and southern India, further away from China. The missile is also likely to be similar to other missiles of the range of 10,000 km. The missile was designed to be easy to transport by road through the utilisation of a canister-launch missile system which is distinct from those of the earlier Agni missiles. Agni-V would also carry MIRV payloads being concurrently developed. A single MIRV equipped missile can deliver multiple warheads at different targets.
With a launch mass of around and a development cost of over, Agni-V incorporated advanced technologies involving ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer for navigation and guidance. It took its first stage from Agni-III, with a modified second stage and a miniaturised third stage enabling it to fly distance of. With a canister-launch system to impart higher road mobility, the missile will give the armed forces much greater operational flexibility than the earlier-generation of Agni missiles. According to a source, the accuracy levels of Agni-V and the Agni-IV, with their better guidance and navigation systems, are far higher than Agni-I, Agni-II and Agni-III. According to the Project Director of Agni V, Tessy Thomas, the missile achieved single-digit accuracy in its second test.

Deployment

According to media reports that cite official sources, the missile was being deployed by Strategic Forces Command as of July 2018. It was reported after the sixth test of Agni-V in June 2018 that the missile will be inducted after one more test.

Testing

Preparation for testing

The Former Indian defence minister A. K. Antony, addressing the annual DRDO awards ceremony, asked defence scientists to demonstrate the missile's capability at the earliest opportunity. DRDO chief V. K. Saraswat told Times of India in mid-2011 that DRDO had tested the three solid-propellant composite rocket motor stages of Agni-V independently and all ground tests had been completed. In September 2011, Saraswat confirmed that the first test flight would be conducted in 2012 from Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast.
In February 2012, a source revealed that DRDO was almost ready for the test, but there were scheduling and logistical issues since the missile was to traverse halfway across the Indian Ocean. Countries like Indonesia and Australia as well as international air and maritime traffic in the test zone had to be alerted 7– 10 days before the test. Moreover, Indian Navy warships, with DRDO scientists and tracking and monitoring systems, were to be positioned midway and near the impact point in the southern Indian Ocean.

First test launch

On 19 April 2012 at 08.05 am, the Agni V was successfully test-fired by DRDO from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa. The test launch was made from the Launch Complex 4 of the Integrated Test Range at Wheeler Island using a rail mobile launcher. The flight time lasted 20 minutes and the third stage fired the re-entry vehicle into the atmosphere at an altitude of. The missile re-entry vehicle subsequently impacted the pre-designated target point more than away in the Indian Ocean. The director of the test range, S.P. Das, informed BBC that all test parameters were met. According to news reports the Agni-V was able to hit the target nearly at pin-point accuracy, within a few metres of the designated target point.

Second test launch

On 15 September 2013, India conducted a second test flight of Agni-V from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. The missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher from Launch Complex 4 of the Integrated Test Range at about 8:50 am. The flight duration was little over 20 minutes and hit the pre-designed target in the Indian Ocean with an accuracy of a few metres.

Third test launch

On 31 January 2015, India conducted a third successful test flight of the Agni-V from the Wheeler Island facility. The test used a canisterised version of the missile, mounted over a Tatra truck. The Integrated Test Range Director, M. V. K. V. Prasad, said: "The missile, witnessed a flawless 'auto launch' and detailed results will be known after all data is retrieved from different radars and network systems."

Fourth test launch

On 26 December 2016, a fourth test of the missile was successfully conducted from complex 4 of Wheeler Island, Odisha at 11.05 IST. This was the second canisterised test of the missile and will now pave way for user trials of the missile by the Strategic Forces Command.

Fifth test launch

On 18 January 2018, a fifth test of the missile was successfully conducted from the Wheeler Island facility, Odisha at 09.53 IST. This was the third consecutive canisterised test of the missile on a road mobile launcher and the first in its final operational configuration. The missile covered a distance of 4,900 km in 19 minutes.

Sixth test launch

On 3 June 2018, a sixth test launch of Agni-V was successfully conducted from Abdul Kalam Island at 09.45 IST. It was the sixth missile test since 2012 and was a "precision launch". The Indian Ministry of Defence stated that the radars, electro-tracking stations, and telemetry stations tracked the vehicle throughout the course.

Seventh test launch

On 10 December 2018, a seventh test launch of Agni-V was successfully conducted from the Launching Complex-IV of the Integrated Test Range at Abdul Kalam Island at about 1.30 pm. This was for the first time that the missile was test-fired in a lofted trajectory. The missile blasted off from a hermetically sealed canister and covered nearly 2,041 km. This lofted trajectory flight was used to determine whether it followed the perfect flight path with close to zero error. This trial completed the Agni-V pre-induction trials.

Description

Propulsion

The Agni-V is a three-stage solid fuelled missile with composite motor casing in the second and third stage. In many aspects, the Agni-5 carries forward the Agni-3 pedigree. With composites used extensively to reduce weight, and a third stage added on, the Agni-5 can fly significantly more to inter-continental range.
Total flight duration for the first flight test of Agni-V on 20 April 2012 was for 1130 seconds. The first stage ignited for 90 seconds.

Range

The DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat initially declined to disclose the exact range of Agni-V. Later, however, he described Agni V as a missile with a range of 5,500–5,800 km. Du Wenlong, a researcher at China's PLA Academy of Military Sciences, told the Global Times that the missile has a range of around. Wenlong also said that the Indian government had deliberately downplayed the missile's capability in order to avoid causing concern to other countries. The exact range of the Agni-V missile is classified. Business Standard reported that the range of Agni-V can be increased if needed.

Mobility

"The Agni-5 is specially tailored for road-mobility," explained Avinash Chander, Director, ASL. "With the canister having been successfully developed, all India's future land-based strategic missiles will be canisterised as well." The missile will utilise a canister and will be launched from it. Made of maraging steel, a canister must provide a hermetically sealed atmosphere that preserves the missile for years. During firing, the canister must absorb enormous stresses when a thrust of is generated to eject the missile.
If the missile is ejected using a gas generator from the canister, then the missile could be launched from any pre-surveyed launch
location without the need for any pre-built launch site.
The launcher, which is known as the Transport-cum-Tilting vehicle-5, is a 140-ton, 30-metre, 7-axle trailer pulled by a 3-axle Volvo truck. The canister design "will reduce the reaction time drastically...just a few minutes from 'stop-to-launch,

Anti-satellite version

said that an ASAT version is technically possible: ASAT weapon would require reaching about 800 km altitude. Agni V offers the boosting capability and the 'kill vehicle', with advanced seekers, will be able to home into the target satellite.

MIRVs

In future, Agni-V is expected to feature Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle with each missile being capable of carrying 2–10 separate nuclear warheads. Each warhead can be assigned to a different target, separated by hundreds of kilometres; alternatively, two or more warheads can be assigned to one target. MIRVs ensure a credible second strike capability even with few missiles. According to DRDO sources, a MIRV payload would be significantly heavier, since it would consist of several nuclear warheads, each of them weighting about 400 kilogrammes. A 5-warhead MIRV, therefore, would weigh two tonnes.

Reactions to testing

Domestic

In India, the success of the launch was received with much acclaim and widespread media coverage. Then Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, congratulated the DRDO. Missile program director Avinash Chander hailed that the launch by saying that it signified "giant strides." The then Defence Minister A.K. Antony also congratulated the DRDO.

Other states