'Agni-V is major strategic defence weapon. Now we want to make Agni-VI which would be a force multiplier,' DRDO chief Dr VK Saraswat said here on Friday.

He however refused to disclose the range of the new missile under development.

Agni V ballistic missile which was test fired in April 2012 has a strike range up to 5,500 km. According to the indications given by the DRDO chief the strike range of Agni VI is likely to be higher.

DRDO officials said once the Agni-6 is developed, it would propel India into the elite club of nations with such a capability including the US and Russia.

The DRDO is working towards developing a cruise missile defence programme which would enable the armed forces to defend against low-flying cruise missiles and enemy aircraft.

Dr Saraswat said that the new missile would be of “a force multiplier capability” owing of its multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) capability.

'It will have force multiplier capability by the MIRV approach which would enable us to deliver many payloads at the same time using only one missile. Work is on in this area and designs have been completed. We are now in the hardware realisation phase,' he said.