While China reacted cautiously at the successful test-fire of Agni-V on Thursday, Indian scientists and engineers are now looking forward to Agni-VI, the next missile in the series that could well possess double the target range. Though the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which develops and manufactures missiles for the Indian armed forces, is yet to make an official statement on the new one in Agni series. It has announced intentions to work on missiles with a target range of 10,000 km.
Agni-V is an intermediate range ballistic missile and falls 1,000 km to 2,000 km short of being called a real Inter-Con-tinental Ballistic Missile. But it is quasi-ICBM, as it can hit targets in other continents, depending on the location from where it is fired. “We go from here to many other missiles, which will have capability for MIRV (Multi-ple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle), for anti-satellite system. The new missile will also be built using this technology for launching micro-, mini and nano-satellites to meet the requirements of the Army on very, very short notice,” DRDO chief Dr V.K. Saraswat said.
Agni-V can carry up to three nuclear warheads, and officials said the next missile in the series might carry even up to 10 nuclear warheads, capable of hitting multiple targets simultaneously.