India conducts first test flight of locally developed missile

Editor’s note: Vivek Raghuvanshi, a journalist and freelancer to Defense News for more than three decades, was jailed in May 2023 by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of espionage. The Indian government has released minimal information on his arrest. Sightline Media Group, which owns Defense News, has not seen any evidence to substantiate these charges and repudiates attacks on press freedom.

NEW DELHI — India has successfully conducted its first test flight of a domestically developed missile that can carry multiple warheads, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday.

The missile is equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, Modi said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

India has been developing medium- and long-range missile systems since the 1990s amid strategic competition with China.

In 2021, India successfully tested Agni-V , a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles) that is believed to be capable of targeting nearly all of China. Agni missiles are long-range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.

India is also able to strike anywhere in neighboring Pakistan, its archrival with which it has fought three wars since they gained independence from British colonialists in 1947.

编者按：维韦克·拉古万什（Vivek Raghuvanshi）是一位为《防务新闻》（Defense News）撰稿三十余年的记者和自由撰稿人，于2023年5月被印度中央调查局以间谍罪名逮捕入狱。印度政府对其逮捕事件的公开信息极少。《防务新闻》的母公司Sightline Media Group表示，他们尚未发现任何证据支持这些指控，并强烈谴责对新闻自由的攻击。

新德里——印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪周一表示，印度已成功进行了首次国产可携带多个弹头的导弹试飞。

莫迪在推特（原名 X）上发帖称，该导弹配备了多个独立目标锁定的再入飞行器。

自上世纪90年代以来，印度一直在与中国展开战略竞争，并致力于研发中远程导弹系统。

2021年，印度成功试射了“烈火-5”洲际弹道导弹，该导弹可携带核弹头，射程达5000公里（3107英里），据信能够打击中国几乎全境。“烈火”导弹是远程地对地弹道导弹。

印度也有能力打击邻国巴基斯坦的任何地方。巴基斯坦是印度的宿敌，自1947年两国从英国殖民统治下获得独立以来，双方已经交战三次。