“This successful test has put India in a group of select nations that have developed canisterised-launch systems from on-the-move rail networks,” Rajnath Singh said.
India has successfully test-fired an intermediate range Agni Prime missile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said early Thursday on X and shared videos of the explosive lift-off.
A weapons test, by itself, is generally not a headline event, particularly for countries like India, with a wide-ranging arsenal of short-, medium-, and long-range missiles.
This, however, was no ordinary missile test.
The nuclear-capable Agni Prime – with a range of 2,000 km – was fired from a launch bed pulled by an Indian Railways locomotive. That meant India joined an elite list – Russia, the United States, and China – capable, or which had the capability, of firing railcar-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs.
North Korea has claimed similar capacities; in 2021 it said missiles launched from a ‘railway-borne system’ travelled 800 km before striking a target off its eastern coast. Japan and South Korea confirmed the launch, though they could not confirm the platform.
“… the first-of-its-kind launch was carried out from a specially-designed, rail-based mobile launcher,” the Defence Minister said, “… has the capability to move on the rail network without pre-conditions (and) that allows shorter reaction time and cross-country mobility.”
“This successful test has put India in a group of select nations that have developed canisterised-launch systems from on-the-move rail networks.”
Rail-based Agni Prime. What does this mean?
Essentially, this means the Indian military can now launch the Agni Prime missile (and other suitable projectiles) from the remotest parts of the country, even without road support.
All the military needs is a rail track running to the launch point and, with nearly 70,000 km of tracks as of March last year, the Indian Railways is the fourth-largest network in the world.
The advantages of a rail-based missile firing system extend beyond a greater number of launch points. It also means the military can hide missiles from enemy satellites in train tunnels.
