{"id":40132,"date":"2024-03-17T12:05:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-17T06:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=40132"},"modified":"2025-04-24T23:14:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T17:44:53","slug":"india-successfully-test-fires-agni-v-ballistic-missile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/india-successfully-test-fires-agni-v-ballistic-missile\/","title":{"rendered":"India Successfully Test Fires Agni-V Ballistic Missile"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in the News?<\/li>\n<li>Brief History of India\u2019s Missile Technology<\/li>\n<li>Post-Independence<\/li>\n<li>Integrated Guided Missiles Development Programme (IGMDP)<\/li>\n<li>Agni Ballistic Missile System<\/li>\n<li>List of Agni missiles with their range<\/li>\n<li>About BrahMos Missile<\/li>\n<li>Missile Systems &amp; future technologies under various stages of development<\/li>\n<li>News Summary<\/li>\n<li>About Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) Technology<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in the News?<\/h2>\n<p>On March 11, Prime Minister Modi announced the successful flight test of an Agni V ballistic missile with Multiple Independently targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology.<\/p>\n<h2>Brief History of India\u2019s Missile Technology<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Before Independence, several kingdoms in India were using rockets as part of their warfare technologies.<\/li>\n<li>Mysore ruler Hyder Ali started inducting iron-cased rockets in his army in the mid-18<sup>th<\/sup><\/li>\n<li>By the time Hyder\u2019s son Tipu Sultan died, a company of rocketeers was attached to each brigade of his army, which has been estimated at around 5,000 rocket-carrying troops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Post-Independence<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>At the time of Independence, India did not have any indigenous missile capabilities. The Union Government created the Special Weapon Development Team in 1958.<\/li>\n<li>This was later expanded and became Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) in 1961.\n<ul>\n<li>DRDL is now a part of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In 1972, Project Devil, for the development of a medium range Surface-to-Surface Missile was initiated.<\/li>\n<li>The development of components \/ systems for Project Devil formed the technology base for the future Integrated Guided Missiles Development Programme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Integrated Guided Missiles Development Programme (IGMDP)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>IGMDP was a Ministry of Defence programme for the research and development of the comprehensive range of missiles.<\/li>\n<li>The project started in 1982\u201383 under the leadership of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam who oversaw its ending in 2008 after these strategic missiles were successfully developed.<\/li>\n<li><u>Nodal agencies<\/u>: DRDO and Ordnance Factories Board<\/li>\n<li>The 5 missiles developed under this program are:\n<ul>\n<li>Prithvi: Short range surface to surface ballistic missile<\/li>\n<li>Trishul: Short range low level surface to air missile<\/li>\n<li>Nag: Anti-tank guided missile<\/li>\n<li>Akash: Medium range surface to air missile<\/li>\n<li>Agni: Surface to surface ballistic missiles with different ranges<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Agni Ballistic Missile System<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The first missile of the series, Agni-I was developed under the IGMDP and tested in 1989.<\/li>\n<li>The Agni missile family consists of four deployed variants, i.e. Agni-I, Agni-II, Agni-III and Agni-IV are already in service with the Indian Army.<\/li>\n<li>Agni-V was successfully test-fired in December, 2018.<\/li>\n<li>All Agni missiles are nuclear-capable ballistic missile system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>List of Agni missiles with their range<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Agni-I: 700-800 Km<\/li>\n<li>Agni-II: 2000 Km<\/li>\n<li>Agni-III: 3000 Km<\/li>\n<li>Agni-IV: 4000 Km<\/li>\n<li>Agni-V: 5000 Km\n<ul>\n<li>The Agni-V is an intercontinental range ballistic missile with three solid fuel stages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About BrahMos Missile<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The BrahMos Missile is a supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by DRDO and Russia.\n<ul>\n<li>It is named after the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Brahmos is a multiplatform i.e., it can be launched from land, air, and sea.<\/li>\n<li>It became operational in 2006.<\/li>\n<li>Range: 300-500 Km<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Missile Systems &amp; future technologies under various stages of development<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Astra: Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile. It is under induction.<\/li>\n<li>Rudram: New Generation Anti-Radiation Missile. It has cleared initial tests.<\/li>\n<li>India is also testing Hypersonic technology.\n<ul>\n<li>Hypersonic missiles travel at Mach 5, five times the speed of sound.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Under Mission Shakti, India had successfully tested anti-satellite missile system in April, 2019.\n<ul>\n<li>Only three other countries, United States, Russia and China, have anti-satellite capabilities in the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Mission Divyastra<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>On March 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the successful flight test of an Agni V ballistic missile with Multiple Independently targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology.<\/li>\n<li>Under \u2018Mission Divyastra\u2019, DRDO test fired Agni V ballistic missile.<\/li>\n<li>At present, the US, UK, France, China, Russia and India are among the elite group that possesses the technology.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) Technology<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/editor_images\/2024\/3\/17\/12\/16\/24\/65f691c0b510e705ac670539_OI.PNG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The MIRV have revolutionized the concept of ballistic missile payloads by enabling a single missile to carry multiple warheads, each capable of targeting enemies at different locations.<\/li>\n<li>The technology was first introduced in the US with the successful test of the Minuteman III in 1968, which brought the technology into actual use in the 1970.<\/li>\n<li>The Soviet Union developed their own MIRV-enabled ICBM and SLBM technology by the end of the 1970s.<\/li>\n<li>The strategic shift started by MIRV has enabled many nations to greater target damage and reduce the effectiveness of enemy missile systems, altering the landscape of global nuclear deterrence.<\/li>\n<li>The warheads on MIRVs can be launched at different speeds and in different directions. Some MIRVed missiles can hit targets as far as 1,500 km apart.<\/li>\n<li>The technology requires a delicate combination of large missiles, small warheads, precise guidance, and a complex mechanism for releasing warheads sequentially during flight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) What is the difference between a cruise missile and a ballistic missile?<\/h3>\n<p>Strategic missiles are either of the cruise or ballistic type. Cruise missiles are jet-propelled at subsonic speeds throughout their flights, while ballistic missiles are rocket-powered only in the initial (boost) phase of flight, after which they follow an arcing trajectory to the target.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is Mission Shakti?<\/h3>\n<p>On 27 March 2019, India tested an anti-satellite weapon during an operation code named Mission Shakti. The target of the test was a satellite present in a low Earth orbit, which was hit with a kinetic kill vehicle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/with-agni-v-test-india-makes-the-mirv-leap\/article67958035.ece#:~:text=The%20story%20so%20far%3A%20On\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>With Agni V test, India makes the MIRV leap\u00a0<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/divyastra-agni-5-can-now-deliver-multiple-n-warheads\/articleshow\/108414515.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>TOI<\/u><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Under \u2018Mission Divyastra\u2019, the DRDO test fired Agni V ballistic missile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":40133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}