India has successfully launched her self developed long range ballistic missile AGNI 5. The AGNI 5 is a great addition to the AGNI series, which helps INDIA to get a prime position in the list of  Asian countries with long range missile capability. AGNI 5 is a missile that has a range of 5000 km and is solid fuelled. It is an Inter Continental Ballistic missile (ICBM) and is a great achievement to the DRDO.

The 3 stage missile, which earlier was launched from Wheeler’s Island which is in the Bay Of Bengal and reached its target in 15 minutes somewhere in Southern Indian Ocean. The Agni 5 was developed under Dr. Avinash Chander and his team.

A distinctive feature of the Agni-5 is its “canisterisation”. Immediately after its manufacture, the missile is hermetically sealed into an airtight canister. Mounted on a flatbed truck, the missile can be easily transported to a launch site; and fired quickly by hydraulically raising the canister into the vertical firing position. The canister is made of maraging steel, allowing it to absorb the enormous stresses of firing, when 300-400 tonnes of thrust is generated to eject the 50-ton missile. The hermitically sealed atmosphere inside the canister allows the missile be stored safely for years.

The DRDO claims that the Agni-5’s advanced navigation system would permit the use of smaller nuclear weapons. Speaking earlier to Business Standard, Avinash Chander said, “Megaton warheads were used when accuracies were low. Now we talk of [accuracy of] a few hundred metres. That allows a smaller warhead, perhaps 150-250 kilotons, to cause substantial damage. We don’t want to cause wanton damage says the DRDO officials after the launch .