- India has announced the Sudarshan Chakra Mission, its first indigenous multi-layered air defence system, designed to protect strategic, civilian, and national sites from enemy aerial threats.
- The project integrates cutting-edge technologies and adopts a whole-of-nation approach to bolster national security.
Mission Overview:
- Sudarshan Chakra is envisioned as India’s equivalent of Israel’s Iron Dome. It will combine detection, acquisition, and neutralisation of enemy threats using both soft kill measures—such as electronic and cyber warfare—and hard kill measures including missiles and lasers.
- The system aims to act as both a shield and sword against missiles, drones, and hostile aircraft.
Technological Components:
- The defence network integrates multiple weapons, including Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missiles (QRSAMs), Very Short Range Air Defence Systems (VSHORADS), and 5-kilowatt lasers.
- These components were successfully tested during DRDO’s maiden trial of the Integrated Air Defence Weapon System. The system will employ both kinetic energy and directed energy weapons to neutralise threats.