The DRDO is developing a new version of Agni-5 inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can strike hardened enemy facilities buried beneath layers of reinforced concrete. It can penetrate 80 to 100 metres underground before detonation.
Impressed by the US-made bunker-buster weapon and its performance in Iran’s Fordow, India has planned to make its own missile that can carry the heaviest weapons and hit targets deep inside the enemy country. After India bombed ten terror hideouts in Pakistan last month during Operation Sindoor, it became imperative to make missiles capable of carrying heavier bombs. A bunker buster is a munition designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground, such as military bunkers. The US-made GBU-57/A Massive Ordnance Penetrators came to the limelight when it was used against Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility on June 22.
DRDO developing bunker-buster missile
What India mulls to developing is not the munition, but the delivery system. The government-controlled Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on a modified version of the Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile. Agni-V is a surface-to-surface nuclear-capable ICBM. It is a three-stage, road-mobile, canisterised and solid-fuelled missile with a range of more than 7,000 km. With a speed of Mach 24 or 29,400 km/h, Agni-5 is one of the fastest missiles in the world.
Agni-5 ballistic missile
The DRDO is developing a ballistic missile that can strike hardened enemy facilities buried beneath layers of reinforced concrete. It can penetrate 80 to 100 metres underground before detonation. The modified version of the Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile will be equipped with a 7500-kilogram bunker-buster warhead and each warhead could weigh up to eight tons.
According to the DRDO, the bunker-buster missile would be equipped with another kind of guidance system called a micro inertial navigation system as a backup. This navigation system will be capable of interacting with Indian and foreign satellite navigation systems like NavIC and GPS. Agni-V uses a system on chip (SOC) based on-board computer (OBC), that weighs only about 200 grams for control and guidance.
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