India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has announced that it has successfully
flight-tested a new generation nuclear-capable ballistic missile named Agni P also known
as 'Agni Prime'.
The test was carried out from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam island off the coast of Odisha, Balasore
on 28th Jun at 10.55 am local time.
Agni-Prime is an advanced version of the Agni-1 missile.
According to a statement by the Indian Ministry of Defence,
"Various telemetry and radar stations positioned along the eastern coast tracked and monitored
the missile.
The missile followed textbook trajectory, meeting all mission objectives with the high
level of accuracy."
In this video Defense Updates analyzes what India's newest ballistic missile Agni Prime
brings to the table?
Let's get started.
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The Agni missile (Agni meaning "Fire") is a family of medium to intercontinental-range
ballistic missiles developed by India, named after one of the five elements of nature.
Agni missiles are nuclear warhead capable surface to surface ballistic missiles.
The first missile of the series, Agni-I was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile
Development Program (IGMDP) and tested in 1989.
After its success, the Agni missile program was separated from the IGMDP upon realizing
its strategic importance.
It was designated as a special program in India's defense budget and provided adequate
funds for subsequent development.
Currently, the series has 6 missiles apart from Agni Prime :
Agni-I MRBM or Medium-Range Ballistic Missile with max range 1,200 km or 745 miles (Operational)
Agni-II MRBM with a max range of 3,500 km or 2,175 miles (Operational)
Agni-III IRBM or Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile with a max range of 5,000 km or 3,105
miles approximately (Operational) Agni-IV IRBM with a max range of 4,000 km
or 2,485 miles (Operational) Agni-V ICBM or Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile with a max range of 8,000 km or 4,970 miles (Operational)
Agni-VI ICBM with 12,000 km o 7,456 miles (Under development)
Limited information is available regarding Agni Prime
As per the DRDO officials as quoted by the news agency ANI,
"It can hit targets up to a range of 2000 km (1242 miles) and is very short and light
in comparison with other missiles in this class.
A lot of new technologies incorporated in the new missile."
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, stated "Many advance technologies including Composites,
Propulsion Systems, innovative Guidance and Control mechanisms and state of the art navigation
systems have been introduced"
The Agni Prime is specially tailored for road mobility and is most likely be using Transporter
Erector Launcher (TEL).
TEL is a vehicle with an integrated prime mover that can carry, elevate to firing position
and launch one or more missiles.
The missile utilizes a canister and will be launched from it.
Since the missile is ejected using a gas generator from the canister, the missile could be launched
from any pre-surveyed launch location without the need for any pre-built launch site.
It provides the forces with the requisite operational flexibility to swiftly launch
the missile as per requirement on short notice.
This way, it will be hard for any adversary to neutralize the missiles with a preemptive
strike.
The use of composite material is aimed at keeping the weight down and make it easy to
transport.
As per some reports, the Agni Prime has multiple simultaneous guidance systems like Ring laser
gyroscope and inertial navigation system, optionally augmented by GPS and Indian Regional
Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) Terminal guidance possibly has radar scene
correlation.
The multiple guidance systems make it very hard to jam.
India has two nuclear-armed hostile neighbors - Pakistan and China.
So, it is paramount that it has credible deterrence.
The nuclear deterrence of a country depends on the nuclear triad.
A nuclear triad is the capability to launch nukes from land, air, and sea and consists
of land-launched nuclear missiles, strategic aircraft with nuclear bombs or missiles and
nuclear-missile-armed submarines.
While India has aircraft like Sukhoi 30 MKI for nuke delivery and has also started deploying
Arihant class Ballistic missile submarines armed with SLBM (Submarine Launched Ballistic
Missiles), Agni series missiles remain the most mature leg of the country's nuclear triad.
On 15th June 2019, Indian & Chinese soldiers clashed in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley
along LAC or Line of Actual Control between India & China.
Both India & China have suffered significant casualties.
Viewers may note that this is the first time India and China are involved in a confrontation
since the deadly clashes between the two armies that took place in Nathu La in 1967 which
resulted in the death of 88 soldiers of the Indian Army and about 300 soldiers the PLA
or People’s Liberation Army of China.
Though multiple talks between the two countries have taken place at different levels since
then, tensions have been simmering.
The conflict seems to have fundamentally changed India's view of China and it is now aggressively
arming itself.
Since this clash, India has carried out around 30 tests of different weapons systems which
include several kinds of missiles.
Agni Prime seems to be equivalent to the Chinese DF-21 missile and will further strengthen
India's nuclear deterrence.