New Delhi:

India successfully test-fired the multi-warhead Agni-5 missile yesterday, a major feat announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and termed it as ‘Mission Divyastra’. The project is led by Sheena Rani, a female scientist from the country’s Hyderabad missile base who has been working on the Agni missile system since 1999.

The Agni-5 missile, which uses multiple warhead re-entry vehicle (MIRV) technology, is hailed by many as the crowning glory of India’s defense research institutions in the past twenty-five years.

“I am a proud member of the DRDO fraternity that helps protect India,” she asserted.

She follows in the illustrious footsteps of India’s legendary missile technologist ‘Agni Putri’ Tessie Thomas, who played a key role in the development of the Agni series of missiles.

The 57-year-old, known as the “powerhouse”, is a scientist at the Advanced Systems Laboratory of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in Hyderabad.

Sheena Rani is a trained electronics and communication engineer with expertise in computer science, studying at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram. She worked for eight years at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC), India’s most important civilian rocket laboratory.

After the Pokhran nuclear test in 1998, she was transferred to DRDO as a lateral officer.

Since 1999, Ms. Rani has been working on launch control systems for the entire Agni family of missiles.

She draws inspiration and motivation from India’s “Missile Man” Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India and former Chief of DRDO. Interestingly, she mirrors Dr Kalam’s career path as he also started his career at ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Center and then moved to DRDO to head the integrated missile development programme.

Another person who helped shape her career, she said, was missile technology expert Dr Avinash Chand, who led the DRDO through some difficult years. Dr. Chand described Hina Rani as “always smiling and willing to innovate. Her dedication to the Agni missile program is amazing and yesterday’s launch was a crowning honor for her.”

Her husband PSRS Sastry also worked on missiles in DRDO and was in charge of ISRO’s Kautilya satellite launched in 2019 for collecting electronic intelligence.

DRDO confirmed that it conducted the first successful flight test of its indigenously developed Agni-5 missile using the Multiple Warhead Independent Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) technology. The flight test named “Mission Divyastra” was conducted from APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha. Various telemetry and radar stations track and monitor multiple reentry vehicles. This mission completed the design parameters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the efforts of DRDO scientists involved in carrying out this complex mission. He posted on social media platform

The missile is a game-changer and force multiplier in regional geopolitics and is manufactured using state-of-the-art, sophisticated indigenous technology. The team is now filled with pride after achieving all expected goals.

The new weapon system manufactured by DRDO uses split-warhead technology to ensure that one missile can deploy multiple warheads to simultaneously strike targets at different locations. It can aid in the ability to evade enemy anti-ballistic missile systems.

With this, India joins a select club of countries – the US, UK, Russia, France and China – that possess multiple warhead missile technology. India is the sixth country to possess multiple warhead missiles.

The payload of a multi-warhead missile is a missile carrying multiple nuclear warheads, each programmed to hit a separate target. This means optimal use of a single missile, enabling India to target adversaries in the east and west within a radius of more than 5,000 kilometers.

To achieve this, the system is also equipped with indigenous avionics systems and high-precision sensor packages to ensure that the re-entry vehicle reaches the target point accurately, sources said.