Agni V bolsters Indias deterrent
Agni V can be described as Indias most ambitiously zealous strategic missile system, owing to its high road mobility, fast reaction ability and a strike range of 5,000 km.
India's search and longing for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) is finally over. The successful test launch of the Agni V missile provided the greatest boost to New Delhi's missile pack. The Agni V can best be described as India's most ambitiously zealous strategic missile system, owing primarily to its high road mobility, fast reaction ability and a strike range of 5,000 km thus qualifying it as an ICBM.
New Delhi's strategic capability has been accentuated by leaps and bounds in that the surface-to-surface, nuclear-capable Agni V can deliver a nuclear warhead weighing more than one tonne. Focusing upon futuristic technology development within the framework of its roadmap, "Defence Technology Vision 2050", the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) termed the launch as "perfect." Expressing satisfaction that the missile hit the pre-determined target and the mission met all set parameters, the DRDO stated that the Agni V missile will be undergoing more validation tests, following which full-scale production of the missile system is likely to begin. It will be at least two more years before the Agni V system shall be fully inducted into the Indian armed forces.
Positioning itself as the most advanced and technologically savvy version, the canister-launch missile system, Agni V, has effectively met the long-term objectives that India's indigenous integrated missile development programme launched way back in 1983. A solid-fuelled, three-stage missile displaying ring laser gyroscope and accelerator for navigation and guidance, the Agni V missile is easier to store and swift in so far as its transportation is concerned.
Although India seeks peaceful development and harmonious relations in its immediate and extended neighbourhood, certain geo-strategic realities and challenges, which confront India and threaten to upstage regional strategic stability, cannot be negated or ignored. Possession of the Agni V missile has granted a major fillip to India's quest in so far as achievement of a credible minimum deterrent is concerned.
In order to assuage any/all potential concerns that the Agni V test shall likely lead to an "arms race" in the region, it needs to be emphasised that the central premise of India's nuclear doctrine is that its nuclear weapons and their means of delivery are meant only to deter a nuclear weapon threat or its actual usage. The fact that the defensive doctrine repeatedly affirms the principle of "No-First-Use" shall only be enhancing regional strategic stability. In this reference, Agni V should only further establish India's minimal deterrence pursuit.
It has widely been reported that China has placed advanced Dong Feng-21 (DF-21/CSS-5) medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) along the borders it shares with India. This can be interpreted as China's attempt to strengthen its deterrent capability in the region by replacing the earlier liquid-fuelled, nuclear capable CSS-3 intermediate range ballistic missiles. The DF-21 is a road mobile, solid-propellant, tactical missile system with payload and accuracy sufficient enough to target key civilian population centres and can therefore, in effect, be effectively used as a deterrent against India. In fact, the basic variant of the DF-21 (CSS-5 Mod-1) is capable of delivering a 250 or 500 kiloton warhead within a 2,000 km range. According to sources, over 100 DF-21 missiles have been built, some of them being reconfigured with conventional warheads that can be put to use along China's southern and north-western borders, making them capable of striking targets throughout northern India.
More significantly, China already has a credible ICBM capability. The Second Artillery Corps, which is the strategic missile force of Chinese People's Liberation Army, controls its nuclear ballistic and conventional missiles boasting ICBMs that stand capable of targeting the length and breadth of India in the event of a conflict. China's DF-31 ICBM has a range of 8,000 km and the advanced version of this missile, the DF-31A, possesses a strike capability ranging anywhere between 10,000 and 14,000 km.
India's missile programme represents sovereignty and self-reliance in so far as technological prowess is concerned. The need for a systematically planned long-term doctrine notwithstanding, the fact remains that India's credence in the field of missile development has been cemented with the successful testing of the Agni V missile thus providing New Delhi with the option of upgrading its present strategic posture of "dissuasion" to that of "credible deterrence".
The deadly ICBM has whole of China, Parts of Russia, Europe, parts of Africa, whole of UAE and Japan covered under its range