India Is Building A Missile That Can Strike Nuclear Sites Deep Underground

India is reportedly developing a bunker-busting variant of its Agni-V ballistic missile, sparking concern in Pakistan over its potential to target fortified nuclear infrastructure, according to a Moneycontrol report.

The new missile, under development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), aims to deliver non-nuclear bunker buster bombs deep underground, up to 200 feet, at hypersonic speeds of up to Mach 20.

The system is expected to serve as a cheaper and more flexible alternative to the bomber-delivered bunker busters used by the US and Russia. India, notably, does not operate strategic bombers.

Drawing lessons from recent US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities using Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP), India is seeking an indigenous missile-based option to neutralise high-value hardened targets, including command centres and missile silos.

The report says Pakistani experts are deeply alarmed. Rabia Akhtar, writing in Dawn, warned that such a missile could blur the line between conventional and nuclear warfare.

She argued that any strike on Pakistan’s nuclear assets, regardless of whether the warhead is nuclear or not, could be interpreted as a first strike, prompting a nuclear response.

The development comes in the wake of Operation Sindoor, after which India vowed to respond decisively to cross-border terrorism and rejected nuclear blackmail.