India Successfully Completes Phase-II of Indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Programme

India has successfully completed Phase-II of its indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) programme, demonstrating its advanced missile defence capability through a series of successful interceptor missile tests. The achievement significantly strengthens India's ability to defend against long-range ballistic missile threats and marks a major milestone in the country's pursuit of self-reliance in strategic defence technologies.

Main point

¨     DRDO successfully conducted three consecutive flight tests recently, demonstrating India’s multi-layered BMD capability against different classes of ballistic missile threats.

¨     The tests validated both exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception capabilities and showcased the effectiveness of the AD-1 and AD-2 interceptor systems developed under Phase-II.

¨     The demonstrations included interception scenarios involving long-range ballistic missiles, medium-range ballistic missiles, and anti-ship ballistic missile-type threats.

¨     With the successful completion of Phase-II, India joins a select group of countries possessing advanced multi-layered ballistic missile defence capabilities.

Understanding India’s Ballistic Missile Defence Programme

Evolution of India’s BMD Programme

¨     The BMD programme was initiated by DRDO in 1999, following the Kargil conflict and in response to the growing ballistic missile capabilities in India’s neighbourhood.

¨     Over the years, the programme has evolved from defending against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles to addressing longer-range and more sophisticated missile threats.

¨     Two-Tier Defence Architecture: India’s BMD system is operationally based on a two-tier interception architecture.

¨     Exo-atmospheric Interception: Interception of incoming ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere during the mid-course phase of flight.

¨     Endo-atmospheric Interception: Interception within the Earth’s atmosphere during the terminal phase, providing an additional layer of defence if the outer layer fails.

¨     Three-Phase Development Roadmap

Phase-I

¨     Designed to counter ballistic missiles with ranges of up to approximately 2,000 km.

Key interceptor systems include:

¨     PAD/PDV (Prithvi Air Defence/Prithvi Defence Vehicle) for exo-atmospheric interception.

¨     AAD (Advanced Air Defence) for endo-atmospheric interception.

Phase-II

¨     Designed to counter longer-range and more advanced ballistic missile threats, including threats in the Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) and ICBM-class categories.

¨     Built around the AD-1 and AD-2 interceptor systems. AD-1 is intended for interception of long-range ballistic missile threats, while AD-2 is designed for higher-end ballistic missile threats, including missiles in the ICBM class.

¨     The recent successful demonstrations mark the completion of this phase.

Emerging Phase-III

¨ DRDO is developing next-generation interceptor systems such as AD-AH (Anti-Hypersonic) and AD-AM (Anti-Missile) to counter hypersonic and other advanced missile threats.

¨     These systems remain under development.