Hindi English Translation || Editorial || New capabilities: India and the Agni-V with MIRV

New capabilities: India and the Agni-V with MIRV

The choice of MIRV on Agni-V gives it range and ability to defeat defences

On March 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used social media to announce India’s entry into a small club of countries capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads (the explosive head of a weapon/missile; the front part (head) of a missile that has the explosive) on a single missile. This was accomplished (पूरा करना) with the maiden (first) flight test of Agni-V, India’s longest range ballistic missile (a missile, which is shot from the ground, takes a long distance to travel well outside the atmosphere and falls to the earth to explode on its target (due to the gravity)) with a range of over 5,000 kilometres, with multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) technology under ‘Mission Divyastra (The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted the first successful flight test of the indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicle ( MIRV) technology The flight test named ‘Mission Divyastra’ was successfully carried out from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha on March 11, 2024)’ by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (रक्षा अनुसंधान एवं विकास संगठन). Since its first test in April 2012, Agni-V (India’s longest range surface-to-surface ballistic missile. The three-stage solid-fuelled engine missile is capable of striking targets at ranges up to 5,000 km with a very high degree of accuracy. It has a height of 17 metres and it is capable of carrying a 1.5-tonne warhead. The Agni 1 to 4 missiles have ranges from 700 km to 3,500 km and they have already been deployed. The ‘Agni’ series of missiles constitute the backbone of India’s nuclear weapons delivery) has undergone (गुजरना) several tests and developments including canisterisation to improve its ease of handling and operation. The MIRV system’s indigenous (स्वदेशी) avionics (the science and technology of the electronic parts/systems/devices used in astronautics) systems and high accuracy sensor packages ensure that the re-entry vehicles (the part of a space vehicle that is designed to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere in the terminal portion of its trajectory) reach the target points accurately. The DRDO said the mission (expedition, journey (into space); assignment, project, operation) accomplished the designed parameters (specification, criterion, limitation, variable). The test also comes five years after India’s maiden anti-satellite (ASAT) test under Mission Shakti (Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), successfully neutralised a satellite in space with its anti-satellite (ASAT) missile on 27 March 2019, in Mission Shakti. The successful mission demonstrated DRDO’s technical prowess and ability to defend country’s assets in space, the 4th dimension of warfare. On March 27, 2019, a live satellite in the low earth orbit of around 300 km was shot down using a modified interceptor of the Ballistic Missile Defence system). On March 27, 2019, a live satellite in the low earth orbit of around 300 km was shot down using a modified interceptor of the Ballistic Missile Defence system.

This is a significant technological breakthrough (very important/significant development or progress) that furthers (आगे बढ़ाना) India’s nuclear weapons programme and strengthens second strike ((of a nuclear weapon) an counterattack which is planned to be used in reply to a nuclear attack) capability. This is particularly important given (दिया गया) India’s nuclear doctrine (सिद्धांत) based on a no-first-use policy, credible (विश्वसनीय, भरोसेमंद) minimum deterrence (the act of deterring/stopping someone from doing something) and massive retaliation (प्रतिशोध, प्रतिकार) in case of a first strike (an attack aimed to destroy opponent’s main strength/power before use), which was espoused (समर्थन करना, सहायता देना) in 2003, after the nuclear tests of 1998. The choice of the MIRV on Agni-V, a three-stage solid fuelled engine, is significant as it is focused towards China given its range and multiple warheads give it the ability to defeat missile defences. India completed the nuclear triad (a group of three connected/related things) when Mr. Modi declared in November 2018 that the country’s first nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine (पनडुब्बी) INS Arihant (India’s first indigenous nuclear powered ballistic missile capable submarine) had finished its first deterrence patrol (गश्त लगाना). The MIRV is the next technological threshold (सीमा) in this direction and it is now only logical and a matter of time before the MIRV is deployed on submarine-launched ballistic missiles. China, which is fast expanding its nuclear arsenal (weapons, arms, armaments), has already deployed (तैनात करना) MIRV technology — first deployed by the U.S. in 1970. Pakistan claims to have tested it as well. In this regard (on this point, in relation/connection to something mentioned earlier), the other side of this development is the factor of escalation (वृद्धि, फैलाव) dynamics (basic/fundamental cause or force that triggers change within a system) that is going to accelerate (increase, rise, further, step up, spiral, escalate) in the region with China and Pakistan. This spiral race of one-upmanship (the way of behaving in which a person attempts to get an advantage by appearing superior to/better than another person (a friend/opponent); boastfulness, showing off, self-promotion, attention-seeker) is only going to deepen (increase, intensify, escalate), get more technology-intensive (requiring a lot of latest scientific and technical knowledge to be successful) and turn out (happen, occur, transpire, come about) to be an expensive endeavour (activity, pursuit, exercise; aim, effort, attempt) as well.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.accomplish (verb)

Hindi Meaning - पूरा करना
English Meaning - achieve, attain, complete, bring about, carry out, perform successfully.

2.Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (noun)

Hindi Meaning - रक्षा अनुसंधान एवं विकास संगठन
English Meaning - it is the R&D wing of the Ministry of Defence, Govt of India, with a vision to empower India with cutting-edge defence technologies and a mission to achieve self-reliance in critical defence technologies and systems. The organisation was formed in 1958 from the amalgamation of the then already functioning Technical Development Establishment (TDEs) of the Indian Army and the Directorate of Technical Development & Production (DTDP) with the Defence Science Organisation (DSO). DRDO is a network of around 50 laboratories which are deeply engaged in developing defence technologies covering various disciplines.

3.undergo (verb)

Hindi Meaning - गुजरना
English Meaning - go through, experience, engage in, be subjected to.

4.indigenous (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - स्वदेशी
English Meaning - originating or occurring naturally (in a country, region, etc.); native, local.

5.further (verb)

Hindi Meaning - आगे बढ़ाना
English Meaning - promote, stimulate, develop, encourage, facilitate, foster

6.given (preposition)

Hindi Meaning - दिया गया
English Meaning - considering, taking into account, bearing in mind.

7.doctrine (noun)

Hindi Meaning - सिद्धांत
English Meaning - a set of beliefs; principle, belief, tenet, dogma, ideology, rule.

8.credible (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - विश्वसनीय, भरोसेमंद
English Meaning - acceptable, trustworthy, reliable, dependable; believable, plausible, reasonable.

9.retaliation (noun)

Hindi Meaning - प्रतिशोध, प्रतिकार
English Meaning - revenge, vengeance, counter-attack.

10.espouse (verb)

Hindi Meaning - समर्थन करना, सहायता देना
English Meaning - adapt (an idea or a belief or a cause); embrace, accept, support, back, welcome, take up, promote, favour, defend.

11.submarine (noun)

Hindi Meaning - पनडुब्बी
English Meaning - a warship submerged in the water.

12.patrolling (noun)

Hindi Meaning - गश्त लगाना
English Meaning - watching/guarding an area (over a period of time).

13.threshold (noun)

Hindi Meaning - सीमा
English Meaning - lower limit, starting point, the level (to react to something).

14.deploy (verb)

Hindi Meaning - तैनात करना
English Meaning - use, utilize, employ, make use of, bring into service.

15.escalation (noun)

Hindi Meaning - वृद्धि, फैलाव
English Meaning - intensification, aggravation, exacerbation.

16.consternation (noun)

English Meaning - a process of storing missiles inside a sealed, climate-controlled tube to protect them from the outside elements during transportation.

17.Agni-V (noun)

English Meaning - India’s longest range surface-to-surface ballistic missile. The three-stage solid-fuelled engine missile is capable of striking targets at ranges up to 5,000 km with a very high degree of accuracy. It has a height of 17 metres and it is capable of carrying a 1.5-tonne warhead. The Agni 1 to 4 missiles have ranges from 700 km to 3,500 km and they have already been deployed. The ‘Agni’ series of missiles constitute the backbone of India’s nuclear weapons delivery.

18.ballistic missile (noun)

English Meaning - a missile, which is shot from the ground, takes a long distance to travel well outside the atmosphere and falls to the earth to explode on its target (due to the gravity).

19.missile (noun)

English Meaning - a self-propelled/rocket-propelled weapon designed to deliver a conventional/nuclear explosive warhead with great accuracy at high speed; projectile.

20.Multiple Independently-targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) (noun)

English Meaning - MIRV technology enables a single missile to carry and launch multiple warheads over the target area. These multiple warheads can attack either a single target location or multiple target locations. With single-warhead missiles, one missile must be launched for each target. By contrast, with a MIRV warhead, a single intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) can disperse multiple warheads on the target area.

21.Agni-V-MIRV (noun)

English Meaning - on 11th March, 2024, India successfully completed test firing of Agni-V ballistic missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under Mission Divyastra. The five designated nuclear weapons states — the United States, Russia, the People’s Republic of China, France and the United Kingdom — already possess MIRV capable projectiles which are integrated into their respective nuclear arsenals. India has joined a very select group of countries to develop an MIRV ballistic missile, by which a single missile can deliver multiple nuclear warheads.

22.warhead (noun)

English Meaning - the explosive head of a weapon/missile; the front part (head) of a missile that has the explosive.

23.maiden (adjective)

English Meaning - first.

24.Mission Divyastra (noun)

English Meaning - The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted the first successful flight test of the indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicle ( MIRV) technology The flight test named ‘Mission Divyastra’ was successfully carried out from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha on March 11, 2024.

25.avionics (noun)

English Meaning - the science and technology of the electronic parts/systems/devices used in astronautics.

26.re-entry vehicle (noun)

English Meaning - the part of a space vehicle that is designed to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere in the terminal portion of its trajectory.

27.mission (noun)

English Meaning - expedition, journey (into space); assignment, project, operation.

28.parameter (noun)

English Meaning - specification, criterion, limitation, variable.

29.anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon (noun)

English Meaning - Anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons are designed to debilitate and/or destroy satellites that are already in orbit and operational.

30.Mission Shakti (noun)

English Meaning - Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), successfully neutralised a satellite in space with its anti-satellite (ASAT) missile on 27 March 2019, in Mission Shakti. The successful mission demonstrated DRDO’s technical prowess and ability to defend country’s assets in space, the 4th dimension of warfare. On March 27, 2019, a live satellite in the low earth orbit of around 300 km was shot down using a modified interceptor of the Ballistic Missile Defence system.

31.interceptor missile (noun)

English Meaning - interceptor or anti-ballistic missile systems that are designed to destroy an incoming warhead by intercepting it on its ballistic trajectory outside the atmosphere.

32.neutralise (verb)

English Meaning - eliminate, cancel out, nullify/invalidate.

33.interceptor (noun)

English Meaning - a type of fighter aircraft used to intercept & destroy enemy aircraft.

34.breakthrough (noun)

English Meaning - very important/significant development or progress.

35.second strike (adjective)

English Meaning - (of a nuclear weapon) an counterattack which is planned to be used in reply to a nuclear attack.

36.first strike (noun)

English Meaning - an attack aimed to destroy opponent’s main strength/power before use.

37.No first use (NFU) (noun)

English Meaning - Since conducting its second nuclear tests, Pokhran-II, in 1998, India has adhered to a self-imposed commitment to ‘No First Use’ (NFU) of nuclear weapons on another country.

38.no first use (noun)

English Meaning - a pledge or a policy by a nuclear power not to use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons.

39.deterrence (noun)

English Meaning - the act of deterring/stopping someone from doing something.

40.triad (noun)

English Meaning - a group of three connected/related things.

41.INS Arihant (noun)

English Meaning - India’s first indigenous nuclear powered ballistic missile capable submarine.

42.it is only a matter of time (phrase)

English Meaning - if you say that something is just a matter of time, you mean that it is certain to occur at some time in the future.

43.arsenal (noun)

English Meaning - weapons, arms, armaments.

44.in this regard (phrase)

English Meaning - on this point, in relation/connection to something mentioned earlier.

45.dynamics (noun)

English Meaning - basic/fundamental cause or force that triggers change within a system.

46.accelerate (verb)

English Meaning - increase, rise, further, step up, spiral, escalate.

47.spiralling (adjective)

English Meaning - increasing, rising, surging, escalating, mounting.

48.one-upmanship (noun)

English Meaning - the way of behaving in which a person attempts to get an advantage by appearing superior to/better than another person (a friend/opponent); boastfulness, showing off, self-promotion, attention-seeker.

49.deepen (verb)

English Meaning - increase, intensify, escalate.

50.technology-intensive (adjective)

English Meaning - requiring a lot of latest scientific and technical knowledge to be successful.

51.turn out (phrasal verb)

English Meaning - happen, occur, transpire, come about.

52.endeavour (noun)

English Meaning - activity, pursuit, exercise; aim, effort, attempt.