India is accelerating efforts to develop the country’s advanced bunker-buster capabilities. This comes close on the heels of US deploying GBU-57/A Massive Ordnance Penetrators against Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility on June 22. The step stems from the recent global conflicts, which have forced the country to prepare for future wars by building a new missile system capable of penetrating fortified underground targets.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing a modified version of the Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile. Unlike the original, which has a range exceeding 5,000 kilometres and carries nuclear warheads, the new variant will be a conventional weapon capable of carrying 7500-kilogramme bunker-buster warhead.
Designed to strike enemy facilities buried beneath layers of reinforced concrete, the missile is expected to penetrate 80 to 100 metres underground before detonation. This development signals India's intent to match the capabilities of the United States, which recently used 14 GBU-57s—the world's largest conventional bunker-buster bombs—against Iranian nuclear infrastructure. The GBU-57 and its predecessor, the GBU-43 (popularly known as the “Mother of All Bombs”), have set benchmarks in deep-penetration munitions.
Rather than rely on large, expensive bomber aircraft for delivery, as the US does, India is designing its bunker buster to be missile-delivered, offering a more cost-effective platform.
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Two new variants of the Agni-5 are reportedly under development. One will feature an airburst warhead for above-ground targets, while the other will be a deep-penetrating missile, designed to burrow into hardened subterranean infrastructure—similar in concept to the GBU-57, but potentially with a larger payload. Each warhead could weigh up to eight tons, which would make them among the most powerful conventional warheads globally.
Despite the reduced range of 2,500 kilometres in the new variants compared to the original Agni-5, their destructive capacity and precision are expected to make them formidable addition to the country’ strategic arsenal. They will be particularly crucial for targeting command-and-control centres, missile silos, and critical military infrastructure in adversarial nations like Pakistan and China.
The missiles are expected to reach speeds between Mach 8 and Mach 20, classifying them as hypersonic weapons—comparable in velocity to the US bunker-buster systems, but with significantly enhanced payloads. India's push to indigenously develop and deploy such systems underscores its growing military capabilities and its commitment to self-reliance in defence technology.
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