MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle) technology is the capability that allows multiple warheads to be loaded on a single missile delivery system and programmed to hit different targets, thus greatly enhancing the missile’s destructive potential.
The development of MIRV capability marks a significant upgrade for India’s missile systems, and expands its nuclear options.
What is MIRV technology?
Traditional missiles carry a single warhead, or weapon, that goes and hits the intended target. MIRV-equipped missiles can accommodate multiple warheads, each of which can be programmed to strike a separate target. They can all be made to hit the same location too, one after the other, thus ensuring complete annihilation of the target.
While simultaneous strikes at multiple locations can have a debilitating impact on the enemy, the use of nuclear warheads can bring the opposition to its knees.
The technology is not new. It was developed in the 1960s and first deployed in the 1970s by the United States and the then Soviet Union. But it is a complicated technology. The warheads have to be miniaturised, be equipped with independent guidance and navigation controls, and released sequentially from the delivery system.
Over the years, France, the United Kingdom, and eventually China have developed this technology. Pakistan too has claimed to have tested an MIRV-equipped missile called Ababeel, first in 2017 and then in 2023.
The development of MIRV capability marks a significant upgrade for India’s missile systems, and expands its nuclear options.
The number of warheads that a missile can carry depends on its design, weight, size, range and other parameters. The one that India tested on Monday can carry three to four warheads, V K Saraswat, the former head of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said. There are other systems that can carry as many as 15 warheads, or even more.
However, an MIRV-equipped missile has never been used so far in any conflict situation. Arms control advocates argue that MIRV technology incentivises the urge to strike first, thus increasing the risk from nuclear weapons.
Advantages oF MIRV technology
Apart from the obvious advantage of inflicting multiple damages with a single strike, MIRV is a sought-after military technology for several other reasons. One of them is its ability to penetrate missile defence systems.
A missile defence system is a network of technologies aimed at detecting, tracking, intercepting and destroying an incoming missile. It involves the deployment of sophisticated radars, communication systems, and interceptor missiles. It’s considered a good safeguard against traditional missiles, and several countries are in the process of developing or strengthening their missile defence systems.
MIRV-equipped missiles, however, can render the system useless. Multiple warheads, each with an independent trajectory, can make the job of tracking and intercepting extremely complicated. In addition, MIRV-equipped missiles can be made to carry decoy warheads to confuse the defence system. It is thus very likely that one or more warheads penetrate the shield created by the defence system, and inflict damage.
Another key strategic benefit, especially for countries like India which has a no-first use policy for nuclear weapons, is the capability to cause crippling damage in a response strike. The response strike could be disproportionate, and can thus serve as a deterrence to the enemy.
Agni upgrade
The integration of MIRV technology is a long-awaited upgrade for the Agni family of short, medium and intercontinental range ballistic missiles indigenously developed by the DRDO. Agni missiles are the main land-based delivery systems for India’s nuclear weapons.
Developed in the 1990s, the first-generation Agni missiles were deployed in the armed forces in the mid-2000s. Agni-1 to Agni-IV missiles have ranges between 700 to 3,500 km and can carry single payloads weighing between 12 and 40 kilotons. Agni-5, the version that has been equipped with MIRV technology, can travel more than 5,000 km, and can potentially enter the intercontinental range as well, considered to be 5,500 km and above.
Agni-5 has been tested several times since 2012, with new features and capabilities. Its previous flight happened in December 2022, when its night-time capabilities were tested, among other things.
Meanwhile, DRDO has also been developing Agni-P missiles, which are modernised versions of the short-range Agni-1 and Agni-2 variety. This missile was tested twice in 2021, and on both occasions there was the expectation that it would be integrated with MIRV technology.
The acquisition of MIRV technology by India was keenly awaited after China developed it in the last decade. With Pakistan also claiming to have tested a missile with this technology, integrating this in Agni missiles had become an imperative. The next generation Agni-6 missile, currently under development, is also expected to be equipped with MIRV.
The development was significant enough for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to himself tell the nation about it, much like he had done five years earlier when DRDO had successfully carried out an anti-satellite test, an equally notable technological achievement that put India among a handful of nations with the capability to strike at an enemy’s space-based assets, such as satellites.
Monday’s test was carried out from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off the coast of Odisha, which hosts India’s integrated missile test range. “Various telemetry and radar stations tracked and monitored multiple re-entry vehicles. The mission accomplished the designed parameters,” DRDO said in a statement.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducts first flight test of indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology. (PTI Photo)
