India Conducts Flight Trial Of Advanced Variant Of Agni Missile
The missile was tested with multiple payloads aimed at different targets spread across a vast geographical area in the Indian Ocean region
Bhubaneswar: India has successfully conducted the flight-trial of an advanced Agni missile equipped with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) capability from the Integrated Test Range at Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island on May 8, the ministry of defence said in a statement released on Saturday evening.
The missile was tested with multiple payloads aimed at different targets spread across a vast geographical area in the Indian Ocean region, the statement said.
Telemetry and tracking operations were carried out through multiple ground-based and ship-borne stations, which monitored the missile’s complete trajectory from lift-off to the impact of all payloads. Flight data confirmed that all mission objectives were successfully achieved during the trial.
The successful test has demonstrated India’s capability to strike multiple strategic targets using a single missile system, significantly enhancing the country’s strategic deterrence capability.
The missile system has been developed by laboratories of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with support from domestic industries. Senior DRDO scientists and personnel of the Indian Army witnessed the trial.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, the Indian Army and industry partners on the successful flight-test. He said the achievement would substantially strengthen India’s defence preparedness amid evolving security challenges.
Meanwhile, in another significant breakthrough, the Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) of DRDO achieved a major milestone in India’s hypersonic missile programme by successfully carrying out a long-duration ground test of an actively cooled full-scale scramjet combustor.
The test, conducted at the state-of-the-art Scramjet Connect Pipe Test (SCPT) Facility in Hyderabad on May 9, achieved a runtime of over 1,200 seconds, improving upon an earlier successful test of more than 700 seconds conducted in January this year.
The combustor was designed and developed by DRDL in collaboration with industry partners. Officials said the achievement places India among the leading nations in advanced aerospace and next-generation warfare technologies.
The breakthrough has been enabled through an advanced supersonic air-breathing engine technology using indigenously developed liquid hydrocarbon endothermic fuel, high-temperature thermal barrier coatings and advanced manufacturing techniques.
The ground tests successfully validated both the design of the actively cooled scramjet combustor and the capabilities of the SCPT facility, officials added.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh also congratulated DRDO, industry partners and academia for the successful test, describing it as a strong foundation for India’s Hypersonic Cruise Missile Development Programme.
Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and DRDO Chairman Dr Samir V Kamat congratulated all teams associated with the project for the achievement.
