India is ready to marine its K-6 hypersonic missile. The missile is being developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), which can be deployed in India’s upcoming S-5 class nuclear submarine (nuclear submarine). The speed and range of the intercontinental ballistic missile K-6 will be better than the BrahMos missile. This missile will help India resist more effectively against enemy countries like Pakistan and China.
The K-6 being developed at the Hyderabad-based DRDO’s Advance Naval Systems Laboratory is one of the most advanced and deadly missiles in India. Launched from nuclear submarine, this hypersonic ballistic missile will bring India to the list of the world’s most capable countries. S-5 class nuclear submarines from which K-6 will be launched, will be bigger and more powerful than the current Arihant class submarine. They are being developed to carry heavy warheads and missiles.
With upcoming sea trials, the K-6 missile will be able to reach hypersonic speed. Hypersonic means MAC 7.5 (seven and a half times more than sound speed) or 9,200 kilometers per hour. The operational range of this missile is 8,000 km, which means that it can attack deep in the enemy’s territory in a few minutes. Due to hypersonic speed, this missile can dodge most of the anti-mesile defense systems, which does not give time to react to the enemies.
The K-6 missile has a multiple independent targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) technology. This will allow the same missile to attack several targets accurately, which will increase its effectiveness in both attacks and defense campaigns. This missile can carry both nuclear and traditional types of warheads which can be used in various war scenarios. K-6 is an upgraded version of ballistic missiles or SLBMs such as K-4 (3,500 km range) and K-5 (6,000 km) to be launched from submarine available with India.
Its speed and destructive capacity will be more than both BrahMos missiles. The length of the K-6 missile will be more than 12 meters and the diameter will be more than 2 meters. Only a few select countries have advance hypersonic and MIRV-equipped missile systems or they are developing them. These countries are the United States, Russia, China, France and United Kingdom and India are going to be one of them with successful maritime tests of K-6 missiles.