Bharat SainiLast Updated on February 27, 2017 by Bharat Saini
Agni IV was successfully test-fired for a range of about 3,100 km on 2 January 2017, as part of a user trial by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) at 11.55 am from launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) Dr. Abdul Kalam Island (formerly known as Wheeler Island), off Damra village on the Odisha coast. Agni-IV is India’s two-stage, surface-to-surface long-range, strategic ballistic missile and can carry a nuclear warhead weighing one tonne over a distance of more than 4,000 km. According to Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) officials, the user trial met all mission objectives. Agni IV was first test fired in 2011 and latest was the sixth trial. The missile has already been deployed by the Army.
Agni-IV is the fourth in the Agni series of missiles which was earlier known as Agni II prime. It has been developed by India’s DRDO and displayed a number of new technologies and significant improvement in missile technology. The missile is light-weight and has two stages of solid propulsion and a payload with re-entry heat shield. The Missile System is equipped with modern and compact Avionics with Redundancy to provide high level of reliability. The High performance onboard computer with distributed Avionics architecture; high speed reliable communication bus and a full Digital Control System control and guide the Missile to the target. The Missile reaches the target with very high level of accuracy. Radars and electro-optical systems along the Coast of Odisha track and monitor all the parameters of the Missile.
The successful trial of Agni IV, coming in the wake of the spectacular success of the fourth test of Agni V on 26 December 2016, confirms India’s nuclear deterrence capability, for both the missiles can cover entire area on the other side of the border. Agni V can carry a nuclear warhead weighing 1.5 tonne over a distance of more than 5000 km. Agni V is a three-stage solid fuelled missile with composite motor casing in the second and third stage. With composites used extensively to reduce weight and a third stage added on, Agni-5 can fly significantly more to inter-continental range. The redundant Navigation systems, very high accuracy Ring Laser Gyro based Inertial Navigation System (RINS) and the most modern and accurate Micro Navigation System (MINS) ensures the Missile reach the target point within few meters of accuracy. The indigenously developed Composite Rocket Motors have performed well and made India completely self-reliant.
DRDO is now developing Agni-VI, an intercontinental ballistic missile. It is to be the latest and most advanced version among the Agni missile program. It will be capable of being launched from submarines as well as from land, and will have a strike-range of 8,000–10,000 km with Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) warheads. MIRV is a ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit one of a group of targets. By contrast a unitary warhead is a single warhead on a single missile.
