The white lines represent the 10,000 km range (with a 500kg warhead?) of an Agni 6 (Agni VI) ICBM. The minimum and main Indian objective is the ability for at least one Agni 6 to deploy 3 tonnes of warheads from one missile onto Chinese northeast coast cities. The inner red circle is the 4,000 km range (with one tonne warhead?) of an Agni 4 (Agni IV) which may be operational in 2017. India's now operational Agni 3 (Agni III) can just reach Beijing with one 500 kg (no MIRV yet) warhead.
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The flight of the 3 booster-stage Agni 6 with several MIRVs. Note that chaff might also be released to confuse anti-missle defence sensors including radar and perhaps satellite electro-optical.
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Agni 6 (Agni VI)'s likely specifications are total weight 55,000 kgs, height 17-20 meters, 1.1 - 2.0 metre diameter, 3 stage rocket boosted. Launched from semi-hidden transporter erector launcher (TEL) truck, or disguised rail car.
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A basic law of physics is that due to gravity and momentum there is an inverse relationship between the weight of a warhead and the range of a missile. If the same rocket boosters (better with a slower burning propellant) for the heavy load were used for a light load, amounting to one 500kg warhead, then the range of that warhead may be 10,000 km.
Ranges involve capabilities even if India has no intentions about friendly countries. The 10,000 km range would bring the capitals of three of the other major nuclear powers into range. Such a long range increases flexibility, important for deterrence. For political reasons India probably does not wish to talk about longer range ICBMs - with 13,000 km capable of reaching all nuclear powers.
India has a right to defend itself. Having nuclear missiles with equal capabilities to the missiles of other great powers is important.
India wishes the 10,000 km range missile, known as the Agni 6 (Agni VI), to have characteristics equal to (parity with) the latest ICBMs of India's main nuclear opponent, China. China's latest ICBM under development is the DF-41 (Dongfeng-41) which will have the range to hit any capital of its nuclear opponents, including London and Washington DC. A December 2014 report indicated that China conducted the full test of the DF-41 involving MIRVs The DF-41 has an estimated range of 12,000km and “can carry up to 10 warheads, which separate from the rocket body during the final, third stage of flight and target individual cities. The military has previously carried out tests of the DF-41 but these probably involved only a single warhead”.
The Agni 6 will be an evolutionary development of the Agni series of long range Indian ballistic missiles developed following the test of India's first nuclear device (1974).
Carrying multiple warheads (10 is the usual upper limit) on one missile is the most economical way to deploy warheads and such a deployment is more difficult to defeat with anti-missile defences. These multiple warheads are known as Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs). Along with live warheads light decoys can be carried (to draw off some anti-missile missiles) and various types of "chaff" (to confuse radar defences).
Agni 6 may be first tested in 2017 . Testing may last 4 years to 2021. Then in-service, operational around 2023 or later.
If India has developed fusion boosted fission weapons (like Joe-4) the yield of a single warhead missile may be up to 400 kT). If India has developed two-stage thermonuclear weapons - then each MIRV warhead may well have a yield between 100 to 250kt.
Cross reference this article with many concerning the Agni series including:
- The Second Agni 5 Test, Any MIRV? September 16, 2013
- China's, India's and Pakistan's Future Nuclear Rivalry August 12, 2013
- Indian Strategic Weapons Programs - Gradual Progress, July 3, 2013
- Agni 5's First Test in April 2012, April 27, 2012
Pete
There isn't any evidence of Israeli-Indian cooperation in the nuclear weapons sphere.
See
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/press-release-archive-1998/jeremiah.html
The identification of the Indian nuclear test preparations posed a difficult collection problem and a difficult analytical problem. Their program was an indigenous program. It was not derived from the US, Chinese, Russian or French programs. It was totally within India. And therefore, there were some characteristics difficult to observe.
Paine Christopher and M. G. Mckinzie, "Does the US Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship Program Pose a Proliferation Threat?", Science and Global Security, 1998, Vol. 7, pp. 151-193.
specifically above Venn diagram
http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/images/athreat1.gif
"Historical sharing of nuclear weapons information". The number of tests is given in parenthesis.
Note the isolation of the Indian programme. This supports Admiral Jeremiah's report
I see this in many reports and it is quite far fetched. The PSLV weighs 295 tons. The GSLV weighs 414 tons. Both Indian vehicles can be fueled and launched only from Sriharikota. Both take weeks to assemble. Neither is capable of conversion to an ICBM, unless India wants an enormous missile that takes weeks to assemble, days to fuel and is located at a known position, in the open, atop a launch pad.
There are also spurious claims of Israeli help with the SLBM project. Given that Israel has no SSBNs and no SLBMs, and has comparable solid fuel tech with India's, just why India would need Israeli help is unclear.
CHENNAI: The “Shourya” missile that was test-fired successfully on Wednesday “flew at five times the speed of sound, that is Mach 5, for 300 km” of its 600-km range, according to M. Natarajan, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. Its velocity gradually tapered off during the remaining 300 km of its flight and then it plunged vertically over the targeted site in the Bay of Bengal.
What was outstanding about the Shourya’s success was the performance of its indigenous navigation system with the help of a ring-laser gyroscope, Mr. Natarajan said on Thursday. He called it “a sophisticated navigation and guidance system produced by the Research Centre, Imarat” (RCI) in Hyderabad.
“We flew our own navigation system in this missile. It worked very well. This is an important step forward for the country in the navigation of missiles, aircraft and spacecraft,” he said. No country would provide India this navigation system.
After the Shourya was fired from its canister, it rose to a height of 50 km and then flew horizontally to reach its targeted site. As it reached its maximum speed, it led to the missile heating up to 700 degrees Celsius. To cool the missile, it was rolled.
“We did a rolling manoeuvre which gives uniform heat to the missile,” said Mr. Natarajan, who is also Director-General, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
He watched the test-firing of the new missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea, Balasore, Orissa. Shourya is a product of the DRDO. The missile’s Programme Director was A.K. Chakrabarti.
While about 2,000 degrees Celsius was generated when Agni series of missiles re-entered the atmosphere, only several hundred degrees Celsius was generated during Shourya’s re-entry.
The missile had high manoeuvrability. So it could not be easily detected by the enemy, Mr. Natarajan said. Shourya is about 10 metres long. It can carry warheads weighing more than 500 kg.
W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller (R&D), DRDO, said the Shourya missile provided the country with “a second strike capability” because it was a variant of the under-water launched K-15 missile (Sagarika). “We can keep the missile in a secured position [silo] to carry either conventional or nuclear warheads,” Dr. Selvamurthy said.
DRDO sources said that although the Shourya needed a silo with a maximum depth of 50 metres to lift off, it could be launched from 30-metre deep silos. It had a booster which fired underground and another which fired in the air. aid.