India to Launch Tests for Indigenous Air Defense System Similar to Iron Dome, ETGovernment

India will next year begin testing new interceptor missiles for an indigenous air and missile defence shield under Project Kusha, which will be a critical element of the ambitious ‘Mission Sudarshan Chakra (MSC)’ announced by PM Narendra Modi to provide security cover to strategic as well as vital civilian areas in the country by 2035.

The plan is to test the M1 missile, with an interception range of 150km against inco-ming enemy aircraft, stealth fighters, cruise missiles, drones and precision-guided munitions, in 2026. It will be followed by M2 (250-km range) in 2027 and M3 (350-km range) in 2028 for the missile-based layered defence system being developed by DRDO, top sources told TOI.

The aim is to complete the development of these three long-range surface-to-air missiles (LR-SAMs) and related systems under Project Kusha by 2028, so that they can, hopefully, be inducted from 2030, the sources added.

The fully automated LR-SAM system, which will rival the expensive Russian-origin S-400 Triumf air defence system deployed by IAF in limited numbers, will be a part of the overall MSC plan to build a multi-layered integrated air and missile defence shield around key locations. In this, it will be somewhat similar to the proposed ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence initiative of the US, or the deployed Israeli ‘Iron Dome’.

Speaking at ‘Ran Samwad’ conclave at Mhow, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan said he was sure India could build its own “Iron or Golden Dome” under MSC at “an affordable cost” with a whole-of-nation approach. “It will act both as a shield and sword,” the CDS said, in sync with the PM’s statement that the defence shield would not only thwart aerial threats but also launch counterstrikes to hit the adversary “many times more”.

This clearly implies India will go in for a major expansion of its conventional (non-nuclear) arsenal of missiles like Pralay (500km strike range), BrahMos (increased range from 450km to 800km) and land-attack cruise missiles (1,000-km range).

A small beginning was made with DRDO’s maiden test of an integrated air defence weapon system on Aug 23. It included quick reaction surface-to-air missiles (with 30-km interception range), very short-range air defence system (with 6km range) missiles and a 30-kilowatt laser-based directed energy weapon (with 3.5km range). “Many of the building blocks for the MSC defence shield have either been developed or are being developed,” a source said.

  • Published On Aug 28, 2025 at 04:16 PM IST

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