India is reportedly developing a hypersonic missile capable of carrying a conventional bunker-buster warhead – perhaps a first-of-its-kind weapon in the world – triggering concerns in Pakistan that this could eventually be used to target high-value nuclear infrastructure across the border.
Media reports on India’s bunker-buster missile programme surfaced last month, shortly after the US conducted airstrikes on deeply buried Iranian nuclear facilities using its GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP).
Rabia Akhtar, a prominent Pakistani expert on strategic affairs, has voiced serious concerns about the implications of India’s missile carrying a bunker-buster bomb.
Writing in the Dawn newspaper, she speculated that the weapon – likely a modified version of India’s Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – could be deployed in a future conflict with Pakistan, which had suffered significant losses during Operation Sindoor.
India’s DRDO, responsible for the Agni missile series and other strategic weapons programmes, has so far remained silent on reports of this new missile system.
According to an India Today report, the new variant of the Agni-V would be armed with a conventional warhead unlike the original ICBM, which is designed to carry nuclear warheads. It would fly at hypersonic speeds – more than five times the speed of sound.
The 13,600kg GBU-57 A/B can only be delivered by US Air Force’s B-2 stealth bombers – the world’s costliest aircraft with each unit exceeding $2 billion.
Pakistan’s latest apprehensions appear to be driven by India’s recently unveiled national security doctrine, which asserts that any future terrorist attack on Indian soil will be considered an act of war.
In the wake of Operation Sindoor, India further emphasised that it would not “tolerate any nuclear blackmail” – a tactic New Delhi accuses Islamabad of exploiting for years to shield its support for terrorism.
