In the last three months of 2020, India launched 30 successful missions to test the capability of its missiles and now there are plans to deploy nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni-V this year, reports The New Indian Express.
Once inducted, the Agni-V will be India’s long-range nuclear deterrence with a strike range of 5,000 to 8,000 km which would mean India will be able to strike all the important Chinese cities, including Beijing.
Agni V will give India options to retaliate against any Chinese nuclear attack as laid out in the nuclear doctrine and is undergoing its pre-induction trials after which it can be deployed at strategic locations as selected by the armed forces.
This missile will also be canisterised which provides the necessary operational flexibility to the forces and canisterisation also allows the missile to be kept in a state of readiness, makes camouflaging the missile easier and permits rapid launch.
Since the missile will not be housed in any silos it is even more deadly because being a road-mobile launcher, the missile can be moved from one location to another as per operational need in times of heightened conflict to avoid detection by enemy satellites.
Such flexibility gives our civilian leadership and military commanders options on survivability in a preemptive or second strike.
Agni-V is a solid-fueled missile and offers the benefit of a quick response and it is easy to store and transport a solid-fueled missile longer storage.
However, fueling a liquid-fueled missile for launch takes more time and when not in use, the liquid fuel must be drained out from the missile due to its highly corrosive nature and must be stored separately which leads to other complications.