Indian defence system

Indian ballistic missile

Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Program is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect India from ballistic missile attacks.^[1][2]

Introduced in light of the ballistic missile threat from Pakistan,^[3] and China, it is a double-tiered system consisting of two land and sea-based interceptor missiles, namely the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for high altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Missile for lower altitude interception. The two-tiered shield should be able to intercept any incoming missile launched from 5,000 kilometres away.^[4] The system also includes an overlapping network of early warning and tracking radars, as well as command and control posts.^[5]

The PAD was tested in November 2006, followed by the AAD in December 2007. With the test of the PAD missile, India became the fourth country to have successfully developed an anti-ballistic missile system, after United States, Russia, and Israel.^[6] The system has undergone several tests but system is yet to be officially commissioned.

Per reports emerged in January 2020, the first phase of BMD program is now complete Indian Air Force (IAF) and the DRDO are waiting for government's approval to install the missile shield for the national capital and will take three to four years to install shield after approval.^[7]

This chart provides information on India’s arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles. It is updated on a rolling basis to include the dates of the latest tests and other developments as they occur. An asterisk beside a data point indicates that this information did not come from an official source but from a reliable, secondary source.

Name	Type	Range	Stages/Fuel	Payload Capacity	Last Reported Test	Inducted?	Nuclear Capable?
Prithvi-I	Ballistic	150 km	Single/Liquid	800 kg*	May 2007	Y(a)	Y
Prithvi-II	Ballistic	350 km	Single/Liquid	500-1,000 kg	November 2019*	Y	Y
Dhanush	Ballistic	350 km	Single/Liquid	500 kg	February 2018*	Y*	Y
Agni-I	Ballistic	700-900 km	Single/Solid*	1,000 kg*	October 2018*	Y	Y*
Agni-II	Ballistic	2,000 km	Two/Solid	1 ton	November 2019*	Y	Y
Agni-III	Ballistic	3,500 km	Two/Solid	1.5 tons	November 2019(b)*	Y	Y*
Agni-IV	Ballistic	4,000 km	Two/Solid	1,000 kg*	December 2018*	Y*	Y
Agni-V	Ballistic	+5,000 km	Three/Solid	1,000 kg*	December 2018	N	Y
Prahaar	Ballistic	150 km	Single/Solid	200 kg	September 2018*	N*	N*
Pragati	Ballistic*	60-170 km*	Single/Solid*	200 kg	Not Tested	N*	N*
K-15 (aka B0-5)	SLBM(c)	750 km*	Two/Solid*	1,000 kg*	August 2018*	Y*	Y*
K-4	SLBM*	3,500 km*	Two/Solid*	Unknown	January 2020*(d)	N*	Y*
BrahMos	Cruise	290-500 km*	Two/Solid and Liquid(e)	200-300 kg	December 2019(f)	(g)N-I: Y B-I: Y B-II: Y B-III: Y* ALCM: N* SLCM: N*	N
Nirbhay	Cruise	1,000 km	Two/solid and liquid(h)	450 kg*	April 2019	N*	Y*
Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV)	Cruise(i)	Unknown	One/liquid(j)	Unknown	June 2019(k)	N*	Unknown

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Footnotes:
a. The Prithvi-I will reportedly be withdrawn from service and upgraded.

b. This test was reportedly not successful.

c. Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile.

d. India reportedly conducted two tests of the K-4 in January: one on January 19 and another on January 24.

e. The boost phase is solid-fueled while the cruise phase is powered by a liquid ramjet engine.

f. Two BrahMos variants were tested, one a land-based variant and the other an ALCM.

g. The BrahMos is deployed on multiple platforms. Each deployment has its own designation. N-I refers to deployments on surface naval vessels. Blocks (B) I-III refer to deployments with the Indian Army. ALCM refers to Air-Launched Cruise Missiles and SLCM refers to Submarine-Launched Cruise Missiles.

h. The boost phase is solid-fueled while the cruise phase is powered by a liquid turbofan engine.

i. The HSTDV is comprised of hypersonic cruise missile technologies.

j. In its first test, the HSTDV was reportedly launched on board an Agni-I, which was to bring it to testing altitude. The vehicle itself is powered by a supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine fueled by kerosene.

k. This test was reportedly aborted after the Agni-I missile carrying the HSTDV failed to reach testing altitude.