Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of a Sudarshan Chakra Mission in his Independence Day address gives a welcome, overarching character to India’s initiatives for strategic security in an increasingly polarised world. The immediate impetus for a scaling up of weapons systems by 2035 to protect economic and defence assets obviously comes from Operation Sindoor, but there is a much longer history of developing a ballistic missile defence programme in the country going back to the 1990s.

More recently, the acquisition of the Russian S-400 Triumf, a long-range air defence system, nine years ago raised the game for India, giving it the strike capability of up to 400 km. Significantly, in his address from the Red Fort, the Prime Minister emphasised that the........

© Free Press Journal