Agni-V is an intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) of India. Agni V is part of the Agni series of missiles, one of the missile systems under the original Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. The DRDO chief V.K Saraswat initially declined to disclose the exact range of Agni-V.Later, however, he described Agni V as a missile with a range of 5,500–5,800 km. Du Wenlong, a researcher at China’s PLA Academy of Military Sciences, told the Global Times that the missile has a range of around 8,000 kilometres (5,000 mi).
US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center estimates that as of June 2017 no missiles yet were operationally deployed.
Agni V is primarily for enhancing India’s nuclear deterrence against China. Until recently, the longest range missile India had was Agni-III with a range of 3000–3500 km. This range was not sufficient to reach targets on the extreme eastern and north- eastern region of China. Most of the important economic centres of China lay on its eastern sea board.
It was estimated that the missile will be operational by 2014 to 2015 after four to five repeatable tests.Indian authorities believed that the solid-fuelled Agni-V is more than adequate to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns. Even with a range of only 5,000 km, the Agni-V could hit any target in China, including Beijing. The missile will allow India to strike targets across Asia and into Europe. The missile's range will allow the Indian military to target all of China from Agni-5 bases in central and southern India, further away from China. The missile was designed to be easy to transport by road through the utilisation of a canister-launch missile system which is distinct from those of the earlier Agni missiles. Agni-V would also carry MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) payloads being concurrently developed. A single MIRV equipped missile can deliver multiple warheads at different targets.
