India joins US, France, Britain with missile that fires multiple N-warheads

Issued on: 17/03/2024 – 18:05

3 min

India hailed Monday’s maiden flight of the multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) technology on the Agni-5 missile as a “historic moment in our quest for self-reliance in the field of missile technology.”

“Various Telemetry and radar stations tracked and monitored multiple re-entry vehicles. The Mission accomplished the designed parameters,” the defence ministry in a statement added but did not give the number of warheads released in space.

Starwar jitters

Pakistan too claimed to have tested the technology in 2017, but experts say the assertion was unverified. China deployed MIRV on its Dong-Feng missiles as part of the rapid expansion of its strategic forces with new technologies.

Some nuclear non-proliferation lobbies say North Korea was also scrambling for MIRV, which can carry a dozen or more warheads and is vastly difficult to track or intercept.

According to the Centre for Arms Control and Non-proliferation lobby, warheads once released in space can hit separate targets up to 1,500 kilometres apart.

The Federation of American Scientists, a Washington-based policy think tank, called India’s space project  a “warning sign” as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a rare third term in office praised the launch of the MIRV-enabled Agni-V.

 “The bigger picture is that India’s pursuit of MIRV capability is a warning sign of an emerging arms race,” the Washington-based Federation in a statement said.

“This follows the failure of the US and Russia to implement the ban on MIRV on land-based missiles they agreed to in the START-II treaty in the 1990s,” it added.

Delhi, which has now pipped Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest arms buyer, seems to be in no mood to abandon its weapons import programme largely due to military tensions with China which fought a brief but bitter border war with India in 1962.

Ties plunged to their lowest level after 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese troops died in a clash in Kashmir’s Galwan Valley in June 2020, prompting the two sides to reinforce their frontier outposts.

They share a 3,488-kilometre de facto border called the Line of Actual Control which is not entirely demarcated.

Modi last month proposed 67 billion euros in military spending for year starting 1 April, up 13 percent over the previous year to pay for more war jets and roads amid tensions with China.

On Tuesday, he chided his predecessors for allegedly not doing enough to shore up India’s defences.

 “Those who ruled the country for decades were not serious on the matters of the country’s defence,” he said in an indication Delhi was unlikely to turn off arms imports from Russia, France, the US and Israel.

France vs Russia

India last year became the world’s top arms importer, accounting for 9.8 percent of the global arms purchases, mostly from Russia, its long-time ally.

Russia accounted for 34 percent of India’s arms purchases – posting a clifftop drop of more than 40 percent since the 1980s when the South Asian nation was solely dependent on its Communist ally.

France is snapping at Russia’s heels, accounting for 33 percent of India’s imports. Experts said it would soon sail past Moscow with the sale of three Scorpene submarines and 26 Rafale jets worth 5.5 billion Euros in addition to 36 planes worth seven billion euros.

“France is using the opportunity of strong global demand to boost its arms industry through exports,” said SIPRI researcher Katarina Djokic.