New Delhi: India has successfully conducted its first test flight of a domestically developed missile that can carry multiple warheads.
“Proud of our DRDO (Defense Research and Development Organization) scientists for Mission Divyastra, the first flight test of indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) technology,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday on X.
The successful test of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) technology on the indigenously developed Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) puts India in an elite club possessing the coveted technology that includes the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom.
Each warhead, once released in space from the rocket that carried it aloft, can be programmed to hit separate targets up to 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) apart, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation.
Though, MIRV technology is not new. The United States first deployed it in 1970 with the Minuteman III ICBM, according to the National Museum of the US Air Force.
India has been developing its medium- and long-range missile systems since the 1990s as its strategic competition with China grows.
In 2021, India successfully tested Agni-5, a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 3,125 miles that is believed to be capable of targeting nearly all of China.
