India's K-5 SLBM Program picks up speed

Source : IDRW NEWS NETWORK

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Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is readying for the maiden test of its long-range Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) K-5 that can deliver nuclear warheads of more than one ton 5,000 km away. K-5 Primarily to be armed on the new S4 and S4* Class SSBM ( ballistic missile submarines ) which are Extended versions of INS Arihant and INS Arighat Class of the first-generation SSBN.

The K-5 missile was sanctioned in 2015 and the program picked up speed after Indo-Chinese tension and also due in anticipation of S4 moving from dry docks to into the water from next year. K-5 is supposed to be the second missile to be equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV) technology that can hit multiple targets or can be used to hit the same targets from multiple projectiles to overwhelm the air defense units.

idrw.org has been told that the program has been waiting for political clearance to start developmental trials for some time now and the demonstrator missile was ready some time ago. DRDO plans to use a submersible pontoon launcher in the Bay of Bengal off the Visakhapatnam coast to test K5 at a reduced range. India already has developed a 750-km range K-15 (B-05) and 3,500 km range K-4 and K5 will be the latest addition to the K-family, while developmental clearance for K6 was granted two years back.

DRDO also has plans to test Agni-V with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV) later this year to validate MIRV technology.

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