India has successfully conducted flight-trial of Agni missile with MIRV tech: Defence ministry

NEW DELHI: The defence ministry on Saturday confirmed that India had conducted the successful flight-trial of an advanced Agni missile with multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle (MIRV) system on Friday.
The successful flight-trial of Agni with MIRV system was conducted from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha, on Friday.

The missile was flight-tested with multiple payloads, targeted to different targets spatially distributed over a large geographical area in the Indian Ocean Region, the ministry said. The missile tested on Friday was the Agni-5 with MIRV technology. TOI had reported about the test-launch of an Agni variant on Friday.



Defence minister Rajnath Singh has complimented DRDO, Indian Army and the industry on the successful flight-test. “This will add an incredible capability to the country's defence preparedness against the growing threat perceptions,” he said.

The telemetry and tracking was carried out by multiple ground and ship-based stations. These systems tracked the entire missile trajectory from lift-off till the impact of all payloads. Flight data confirmed that all mission objectives were met during the trial, the statement said.

The MIRV technology allows a single ballistic missile to deliver multiple nuclear warheads to different, separate targets, significantly increasing firepower and evading defences. Key features include exoatmospheric deployment, specialized maneuvering "buses," and the ability to combine warheads with decoys to overwhelm interceptors.

With this successful trial, India once again demonstrated the capability to target multiple strategic targets using a single missile system, the ministry said. This missile is developed by DRDO laboratories with the support of industries across the country. The trial was witnessed by senior scientists of DRDO and the Indian Army personnel.