India Successfully Test-Fires Advanced Agni Missile with MIRV Capability

India has successfully test-fired an advanced Agni missile with a Multiple Independently Targeted Re-Entry Vehicle (MIRV) system from Odisha's APJ Abdul Kalam Island on Friday, the defence ministry said. The missile was flight-tested with multiple payloads, targeted to different targets spatially distributed over a large geographical area in the Indian Ocean Region.

The MIRV feature ensures that a single missile can deploy multiple warheads at different locations simultaneously. The defence ministry said the telemetry and tracking was carried out by multiple ground and ship-based stations, which tracked the entire missile trajectory from lift-off till the impact of all payloads.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh complimented the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Army, and the concerned industry partners on the successful flight-test of the missile, saying it will add an incredible capability to the country's defence preparedness.

The trial was witnessed by senior scientists of DRDO and the Indian Army personnel, according to the ministry. The Agni-5 missile has a range of up to 5,000 km.

The defence ministry will likely conduct further tests and evaluations of the Agni missile with MIRV capability, with the next steps expected to be announced in the coming weeks.