Why India’s K-5 MIRV Missile Matters

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:10]Hello, this is Sandeep Unnithan and welcome to Chakra News. Now, India recently conducted a pop-up test of its new submarine-launched ballistic missile, the K-5.

[00:00:22]Now, the test was conducted in the Bay of Bengal near Visakhapatnam in the last week of March.

[00:00:28]Now, the K-5 missile has a range of over 5,000 km. It is the naval equivalent of India's Agni 5 ICBM. The K-5 has a length of around 12 m and it has a diameter of around 2.4 m. It weighs over 20 tons and the missile has a 2-ton warhead. It is believed to carry multiple warheads or MIRVs, at least three from what we know.

[00:00:57]Now, the K-5 will equip the new SSBNs of the S-5 series. These new SSBNs that are still under construction will enter service in the early 2030s.

[00:01:08]Now, the S-5 missile of this kind, which will be launched from an SSBN like this, uh is an SLBM. It's a submarine-launched ballistic missile that's fired from under the water, from a submarine.

[00:01:24]Now, this missile is ejected from a submarine underwater using what is called a gas ejection system. The missile clears the surface of the sea and ignites its rocket booster, which takes it out of the atmosphere. The missile warhead then reenters the Earth and strikes at its target. Now, a pop-up test of the kind that India Now, a pop-up test of the kind that India conducted successfully off Visakhapatnam is one where the missile doesn't fire its rocket booster.

[00:01:54]What is tested is only the first stage of the missile launch. It's a test of the gas gas ejection system that actually pushes the missile out of the vertical launch tube. The missile falls a few hundred meters away from the launcher, which is what happened in this case. And interestingly, what was also tested with this new K5 was a new underwater launcher. Now, India has these specialized barges, these uh submersible barges from which these SLBMs are launched. That new SLBM test barge was also tested here as well.

[00:02:32]Now, you can see here a NOTAM for a firing exercise here issued by India between the 30th and 31st of March. Now, this is in a post by Damien Simon on X, and this post corresponds to the time of the missile launch, the last week of March, around the 30th or the 31st of March. And interestingly, you can see the no-fly zone uh for a naval ship firing exercise that's right here in the middle of the Bay of Bengal. It had a maximum length of 480 km, which means it was not a full test of the missile. It is possibly this particular pop-up test that we are talking about that was conducted interestingly. Now, interestingly, India's third SSBN, the Aridhaman, was commissioned a few days after this successful test on the 3rd of April.

[00:03:23]The Aridhaman is, of course, part of the Arihant class uh missile submarines, SSBNs. Four submarines of this class, the Aridhaman is the third. The uh Arisudan will be the fourth. Now, the K5 missile test is significant because it is only the third type of submarine-launched ballistic missile in India's inventory. Now, all of these missiles, the K15, the K4, the K5, are designed and developed by the DRDO's Advanced Systems Laboratory based in Hyderabad. And the last such pop-up test of a missile was that of the K4 missile in 2010. That's 16 years ago. I reported that story for India Today magazine here. You see it, the secret K missile family. Uh the K4 missile that was that had its pop-up test then uh has a range of around 3,500 km and it is now in service with the Arihant class submarines. Now, that tells you the time it takes for uh the time between a pop-up test, a full-scale test, and induction. And we are believed to have gotten better at this game. So, obviously the K5 would have a shorter induction uh spiral. Now, let's take a look at India's K missile family. K for Kalam, named after India's uh missile man and former president Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The K15 was the first submarine-launched ballistic missile to enter service on the INS Arihant. Now, the K15 was the first submarine-launched ballistic missile to enter service on the Arihant class, in fact on the INS Arihant, and the Aridhaman, and of course the Arighat.

[00:05:06]The K15 has a range of around 750 km.

[00:05:10]It's a short-range submarine-launched ballistic missile.

[00:05:13]The K4 is the next in line. It has a range of around 3,500 km. And this is the standard long-range missile equipping all four submarines of the Arihant class. And now you come here to the K5 and the K6, the big boys. These two missiles are being developed for the S5 series ballistic missile submarines.

[00:05:38]Uh India plans to build around four of these giant submarines over the next decade. Each submarine, the S5, costs over 20,000 crore. Now the K5 is under development. Once this is developed and inducted, it will be followed by the K6, the longest range missile in India's submarine launched missile family. The biggest of the K missile family, the K6 has a range of over 6,000 km and it approaches ICBM uh range capability. This is of course somewhere off. We believe it's a three-stage missile that is also in development currently, but it will take several years before it is ready for induction. Now the plan with all of these missiles is to deploy them from the Bay of Bengal. You can see the missile ranges here for the K15, the K4, the K5, and the K6. The K4 of course has a range of 3,500 km, the K5 5,000 km, and the K6 6,000 plus km. From the Bay of Bengal, India has the ability to target most of China and Pakistan, its two principal uh adversaries. And of course with the K5 and the K6, it becomes easier for India to target both its adversaries from within the Bay of Bengal. Now what next for the K5 missile? Well, the successful pop-up tests means that the DRDO can now move on to the next phase of tests, which is the actual full range where the missile will not just pop out of the uh submersible barge, but will also fire its two-stage rockets. Now somewhere in the Bay of Bengal, most likely in 2026. That is this year. Now we got an indication of that last year in November 2025 when the Advanced Center for Energetic Materials completed the successful static test of the K5's 10-ton class stage two rocket motor.

[00:07:39]Uh this test was conducted at the Armament and combat engineering systems facility in Hyderabad and the test The test confirmed various parameters for the solid rocket motor of the K5, its effectiveness, reliability for actual test ballistic missile performance ballistic performance, safety margins, subsystem integrations, all of that. Now the successful pop-up test in March means that the missile is now ready for the next phase of trials, a full flight trial. So get set for the first full flight trials of the K5 submarine launched ballistic missile anytime now.

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