Bunker Buster Missile Project : DRDO Develops New Agni-5 Variant with Bunker Buster Warhead Amid Global Tensions

India News: With the US airstrikes on Iran, India is strategically moving on the fast track of developing bunker-buster missiles, a great initiative that India wishes should not have its way. This project, led by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), aims to create a slightly updated version of the Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile, not for use during a nuclear war, but as an ordinary weapon with improved ground-penetration capabilities.

India Today states that the new Agni-5 version will launch a huge 7,500-kilogram bunker-buster warhead blast that would help India in destroying defended enemy bunkers, underground missile silos, and secret command centres.

What Makes Bunker Buster Missiles Strategic?

The bunker-buster missile is a type of weapon designed to enter deep into hardened facilities before detonation. They are particularly good against underground military facilities, namely command bunkers or weapons depots. These weapons do not involve direct action like conventional explosive weapons but instead have delayed fuses that allow the missile to penetrate several layers of reinforced concrete or rock before exploding internally.

The new development gives India the prospect of becoming one of the few countries that have managed to attain this capability, which includes the US, Russia, and Israel.

Why Now?

This is driven by the fact that regional powers are increasingly becoming more volatile, especially when the US carried out precision bombing against Iran using supposedly high-tech bunker-buster bombs. These trends have strengthened the need for India to be ready for underground warfare situations, considering the security threat posed by China and Pakistan, as well as the threat of terror organizations using underground shelters.

The strategic professionals think that the Agni-5 version will enable India to use non-nuclear precision delivery against enemy targets deep inside enemy territory without needlessly invading the nuclear presidential zone, providing the military planners with an eponymous multi-purpose instrument in subsequent conflicts.

DRDO's Vision and Future Deployment

It is also reported that the DRDO has entered into the integration and prototype development phase, and some may be tested in the next 18–24 months. This system, when in operation, could be launched both on land platforms and air-launched systems, which increases the strategic capabilities of India substantially.