NEW DELHI: The defense ministry on Saturday confirmed that India had successfully conducted a flight-trial of an advanced Agni missile with the multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle (MIRV) system from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast on Friday.MIRV technology allows a single ballistic missile to evade defenses and deliver multiple nuclear warheads to different targets, significantly increasing its firepower. The Agni missile was flight-tested with multiple payloads, aimed at different targets spatially distributed over a large geographical area in the Indian Ocean Region, the ministry said in a statement. With this successful trial, India had once again demonstrated the capability to target multiple strategic targets using a single missile system, it said.TOI had reported on the test-launch of an Agni variant on Friday.This was the second known test of the advanced Agni-5, also referred to as ‘Mission Divyastra’ — an MIRV-capable iteration of Agni-5 — which was first tested in March 2024. The nuclear-capable Agni-5 has an officially declared strike range of over 5,000 km, placing targets deep in Asia, including China, parts of Europe and Africa within its strike range.Complimenting Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Indian Army and the industry on successful flight-test, defense minister Rajnath Singh said, “This will add an incredible capability to the country’s defense preparedness against growing threat perceptions.”The telemetry and tracking of flight-trial was carried out by multiple ground and ship-based stations. These systems tracked the entire missile trajectory from lift-off to the impact of all payloads. Flight data confirmed that all mission objectives were met, the ministry statement said.The missile has been developed by DRDO’s laboratories with support of industries across the country. The trial was witnessed by senior scientists of DRDO and Indian Army personnel.
