DRDO Missiles Abound But Are Yet To Be Fielded

DRDO Missiles Abound But Are Yet To Be Fielded

Monday, February 17, 2020 by Indian Defence News

With 52 labs & over 7,800 scientists, the Defence Research & Development Organisation [DRDO] has delivered more misses than hits over the decades. DRDO's list of successes is short. Its list of failures is much longer. Thus, DRDO’s record in producing weapon systems has not been encouraging as exemplified by the delayed induction of the TEJAS, the mess-up that is Arjun MBT and the virtual rejection of the INSAS rifle by the Indian Army. But leapfrogging on the success achieved by scientists in space-related technologies, DRDO has excelled in producing potent ballistic missiles that have enhanced India’s strategic options.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was set up in 1958 with a vision to "provide our defence services a decisive edge by equipping them with internationally competitive systems and solutions".

One of India’s flagship biennial military exhibitions – DefExpo 2020 (the other being Aero India) – was concluded recently in Lucknow. A wide range of strategic and tactical weapon systems, defence equipment and technologies developed by DRDO were on display at the DefExpo 2020 which was held in Lucknow from February 05-09, 2020. DRDO highlighted products from its eight technology clusters, Aeronautical Systems, Armament & Combat Engineering (ACE), Electronics and Communication Systems (ECS), Life Sciences (LS), Micro Electronic Devices and Computational Systems (MED & CoS), Missile & Strategic Systems (MSS), Naval Systems & Materials (NS & M) and System Analysis and Modelling (SAM). Technology clusters, each headed by a Director General are entrusted with design and development of systems, products and core defence technologies.

Missile cluster is responsible for the design and development of state-of-the-art Missiles and Strategic Systems required for the deterrence and defence of the nation. India’s first ASAT missile used in Mission Shakti to demonstrate anti-satellite precision strike capability will be on display at the DefExpo. The cluster has developed a wide range of strategic and tactical missile systems. Apart from the strategic systems (Agni and Prithvi missiles), the cluster has developed tactical weapon systems such as the BrahMos family of supersonic cruise missiles, , the Akash family of surface to air missiles, LRSAM/MRSAM family of surface to air missiles, Astra beyond visual range air to air missile and the Nag/Helina family of anti-tank guided missiles. The displays included A-SAT, Astra and the SAAW weapon system. Outdoor missile displayed included LRSAM and BrahMos Mobile Autonomous Launcher. The indoor exhibits included models of Nag, Helina, Astra, LRSAM, QRSAM, NGARM, Akash, Prithvi, and multiple products and technologies such as RLG based INS-GPS, System on Chip, BrahMos OBC & MIU among other highlights.

Deployment Dilemmas

India is at the learning stage for many of the complex technologies required to create an effective ballistic missile defence system for both offensive and defensive purposes. The DRDO has hastened its weapon development and testing program over the last few years, it is however yet to deploy several missiles of critical value to our national security and strategic deterrence.

As an illustration, the Akash surface-to-air missile (SAM) air defence system entered service with the Indian Air Force (IAF) only in 2019, which took over 30 years to have been deployed. The DRDO has often complained that excellent systems built by it have been devalued by poor production, notably the Arjun tank, built by the Ordinance Factory Board at Avadi, Chennai.

However, there are notable exceptions to the above, DRDO successfully flight tested the Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) ‘Astra’ from Su-30MKI platform. The trails were held from 16th to 19th September 2019. The trials were conducted by Indian Air Force (IAF) against Jet Banshee target aircraft simulating all possible threat scenarios. The five trials conducted during this period tested missiles in different configurations which hit the targets with pinpoint accuracy.

Here is a substantive list of missile still to be deployed by the DRDO:

SL	Missile	Type	Status
1	K-4	SLBM	In Trials
2	K-5	SLBM	Under Development
3	K-6 Intercontinental Range SLBM	SLBM	In Development
4	Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle	Hypersonic	Development Trials
5	Astra Mk-II	Air-To-Air	Under Development
6	Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet	Air-To-Air	Development Trials
7	Anti-Radiation Missile	Air-To-Surface	Development Trials
8	Prithvi Defence Vehicle	Hit-To-Kill BMD	Development Trials
9	Prithvi Defence Vehicle MK-II	Hit-To-Kill BMD	Being Tested
10	AD-1 (Phase II of BMD)	Hit-To-Kill BMD	In Development
11	AD-2 (Phase II of BMD)	Hit-To-Kill BMD	In Development
12	XR-SAM	High Explosive BMD	In Development
13	BrahMos-II [Hypersonic]	Cruise Missile	In Development
14	BrahMos-A	Cruise Missile	Development Trials
15	BrahMos-ER	Cruise Missile	In Development
16	BrahMos-NG	Cruise Missile	In Development
17	Nirbhay	Cruise Missile	Development Trials
18	Naval Anti-Ship Missile	Anti-Ship Missile	In Development
19	HeliNa [Nag-Air-launched ATGM]	ATGM	In Trials
20	Standoff Air-launched ATGM	ATGM	Development Trials
21	Man-Portable Anti-Tank Missile	ATGM	Development Trials
22	Amogha-I ATGM	ATGM	Development Trials
23	Amogha-II [Air Launched]	ATGM	Proposed
24	Amogha-III [MANPADS]	ATGM	Proposed
25	SMAHO ATGM [Cannon Launched]	ATGM	Development Trials
26	Agni-IP	Ballistic Surface	In Development
27	Agni-VI	Ballistic Surface	In Development
28	Prahaar	Ballistic Tactical	In Development
29	Pralay	Ballistic Tactical	In Development
30	Pranash	Ballistic Tactical	In Development
31	Akash MK-II	Surface-To-Air	Development Trials
32	Maitri	Surface-To-Air	In Development
33	Quick Reaction SAM	Surface-To-Air	In Trials
34	Long Range SAM	Surface-To-Air	In Trials
35	Long Range MBRL	Ballistic Surface	In Development
36	Shakti Anti-Satellite Missile	Ballistic Anti-Satellite	Development Trials

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