Complete Analysis of Agni V Ballistic Missile

India today successfully fired Agni-V , the long range Ballistic Nuclear Missile  from Wheeler Island of Orissa. It is capable of attacking any target upto 6000 km away  which is much more than the diameter of China. It has been developed by Defense Research and  development Organization (DRDO) of India.  The estimated cost of making this missile unit is about 40 Crores Indian Rupees.

The technical Specifications of Agni V can be summarized below

Weight: 50,000 kg
Length: 17.5m
Maximum Range:6000km
Warhead: 1000kg on Nuclear Weapon
Engine: 3 Stage Solid
Max Speed: 24 Mach

The Agni-V will be operational by 2014-2015 after four to five repeatable tests by the DRDO.

Agni-V carries  MIRV (multiple independently target-able re-entry vehicles) payloads being concurrently developed. A single MIRVed missile can deliver multiple warheads at different targets.

With a “launch mass” of around 50 tonne and a development cost of over Rs 2,500 crore, Agni-V  incorporates advanced technologies involving ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer for navigation and guidance

On April 19, 2012 at 8.07 am, the Agni V was successfully test fired by DRDO from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa.  The test launch was made from the Launch Complex 4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island using a rail mobile launcher.  The flight time lasted 20 minutes and the third stage fired the re-entry vehicle into the atmosphere at an altitude of 100 kms. The missile re-entry vehicle subsequently impacted the pre-designated target point more than 5,000 kms away in the Indian Ocean.  The director of the test range, S.P. Das informed BBC that all test parameters were met.

Propulsion

The Agni-V is a three stage solid fueled missile with composite motor casing in the third stage. In many aspects, the Agni-5 carries forward the Agni-3 pedigree. With composites used extensively to reduce weight, and a third stage added on (the Agni-3 was a two-stage missile), the Agni-5 can fly 1,500 km further than the 3,500 km range Agni-III. Two stages of this missile will be made of composite material.Advanced technologies like ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer will be used in the new missile.”You can reduce the payload and (further) increase the range of Agni-V” Saraswat told the Reuters in Feb 2010.

Mobility

“The Agni-5 is specially tailored for road-mobility,” explains Avinash Chander, Director, ASL. “With the canister having been successfully developed, all India’s future land-based strategic missiles will be canisterised as well”. The missile will utilize a canister and will be launched from it. Made of maraging steel, a canister must provide a hermitically sealed atmosphere that preserves the missile for years. During firing, the canister must absorb enormous stresses when a thrust of 300 to 400 tonnes is generated to eject the 50-tonne missile.

MIRVs

Agni-V will feature Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs) with each missile being capable of carrying 3-10 separate nuclear warheads. Each warhead can be assigned to a different target, separated by hundreds of kilometres; alternatively, two or more warheads can be assigned to one target. MIRVs ensure a credible second strike capability even with few missiles.