Agni-V does cover the gaping hole in India’s nuclear deterrence against current military threat scenarios that the country faces in the region, especially, from its northern neighbour—China

Wheeler Island, April 19, 2012: After a couple of delays caused by weather scares which included lightning-filled skies, India’s first Agni-V missile was given the go ahead for launch. At 8.07 a.m. IST, the three-stage, solid-propellant missile rose majestically in a blaze of brilliant orange plumes. The sleek 17.5-metre tall missile, within a few seconds of its blast-off from its mobile launcher roared into the sky riding a perfect trajectory before disappearing into clouds amid light drizzling. The scene inside the launch control room resembled a cricket final with India’s top missile scientists, who were sitting glued to their computer terminals that displayed Agni’s progress, jumped up and applauded every time the missile crossed a major milestone in its spell-binding flight. And just 20 minutes after launch, when the missile successfully completed its 5,000-km-long journey that took it way south of the Equator and detonated its payload at the designated spot over the Indian Ocean, it was like India had won the 2011 One-Day International Cricket World Cup final all over again. India had indeed made history as with the successful test of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)-capable Agni-V, it fired a shot that was heard across the world. April 19, 2012, will long be remembered in the annals of India’s strategic weapons quest as the golden day on which India finally came of age in terms of missilery.

In simple terms, Agni-V does cover the gaping hole in India’s nuclear deterrence against current military threat scenarios that the country faces in the region, especially, from its northern neighbour—China. In the Agni class of missiles, Agni-I and Agni-II, with a range of 700 km and 2,000 km, respectively, are largely meant to deter Pakistan against any nuclear misadventure. Agni-III and IV designed for China, with their range limit of 3,000-3,500 km was insufficient to strike all key Chinese cities and other strategic locations, if the need arose. But Agni-V even with its now proven range of 5,000 km (extendable further to put it in the ICBM class of beyond 5,000 km range) will be capable of reaching China’s strategic and tactical targets located anywhere in China, including the northern most parts of its Territory (see Agni-V’s Specifications). This also elevates India into an elite league of nations—only the United States, Russia, China, France and UK, and possibly Israel possess the capability to operate an ICBM at present.

While congratulations are certainly in order, Agni-V is far from done before it can be operationally deployed to provide the necessary nuclear deterrence in the true sense of it. According to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), they still have to get to a user-deliverable configuration including an ability to do a launch from a canister. With a canister-launch system to impart higher road mobility, the missile will give the armed forces much greater operational flexibility than the earlier generation of Agni missiles. This would also be in tune with India’s self-proclaimed ‘no first use’ policy by providing it a highly credible second-strike capability that India needs so desperately for its nuclear deterrence to be in place.