Mission Sudarshan Chakra aims to enhance India’s Air Defence (AD), Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) and aerial offensive capabilities. Ongoing global conflicts accentuate the Mission imperatives. Based on India’s requirements and Israel’s battle-tested capabilities, the India–Israel ‘Special Strategic Partnership’ has the potential to be a strategic catalyst for Mission Sudarshan Chakra.

On 15 August 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Mission Sudarshan Chakra, India’s ‘Shield and Sword’[1], to be achieved by 2035. Besides enhancing India’s Air Defence (AD), Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) and aerial offensive capabilities, the Mission aims to fuse the cyber, cognitive and aerospace domains into a cohesive “kavach” capable of countering futuristic, complex, massed and mixed aerial threats through a unified strategy.[2] Given recent and ongoing conflicts, besides lessons from Operation Sindoor, the time-bound completion of the mission is critical to achieving national security objectives.

Six months into the project, during PM Modi’s state visit to Israel on 25–26 February 2026, several news reports indicated Israel’s willingness to share technology of its Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) systems with India, specifically the Iron Dome and the Iron Beam, with some reports suggesting Arrow and David Sling systems besides offensive weapons such as the Golden Horizon air-launched ballistic missile,[3] Spice munition guidance kits, Rampage air-to-ground missiles, Ice Breaker cruise missile and the supersonic AIR LORA Air Launched Ballistic Missile (ALBM) missiles. The two sides were expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for co-development and domestic manufacturing in India under a broader ‘Strategic Alliance’, thus adding a crucial element to Mission Sudarshan Chakra.[4]

Amidst these reports, the visit concluded with India–Israel bilateral relationship being elevated to a ‘Special Strategic Partnership’. The joint statement issued subsequently frames defence cooperation around its November 2025 MoU, affirming a high-level technology-intensive partnership and roadmap based on co-development and co-production.[5] It also emphasises commitments in areas of cyber defence and an AI-security framework. The statement, unlike the news reports, does not mention any specific weapon platforms or concrete hardware/software projects.[6] The brief places these developments in context and underscores their importance for India’s Mission Sudarshan Chakra.

Israel’s Offensive and IAMD System

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israeli Air Force (IAF) pursue a combined strategy of swift, intelligence-driven offensive strikes by “integrating its air, land, sea, cyber and space capabilities with the Israeli home front command”[7] to maintain air superiority and deep-strike capabilities, paired with a robust and multi-layered IAMD shield. The latter is its popularly known Iron Dome system, along with Arrow, David Sling and now Iron Beam.

Israel’s IAMD systems have evolved over the years to counter sustained and a wide variety of air and missile threats from state and non-state regional adversaries. The threat of short-range rockets and small projectiles fired by non-state actors began in the 1990s, with Hezbollah conducting its first rocket attack in 1996, and Hamas in 2001.[8] On 7 October 2023 alone, about 5,000 rockets were fired at Israel. About three months later, this figure went up to 12,000.[9] Later, in the 12-day war of 2025, Israeli systems countered about 550 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones launched by Iran.[10] In the ongoing conflict with Iran, till 3 March 2026, Israel has flown over 700 sorties dropping over 2,500 munitions, destroying at least 600 targets,[11] in addition to defending from drones and ballistic missiles launched from Iran and Hezbollah.[12]

In 2025, Israel’s IAMD network added its fourth and lowest tier, the Iron Beam, designed to counter short-range rockets, mortars and drones using Directed Energy technology within a close-in range of 7–10 km. It replaced the Iron Dome, which now moves to the second tier, intercepting short-range rockets, artillery shells and UAVs up to 70 km. Operationalised in 2011, Iron Dome’s manufacturer, Rafael, claims it has “intercepted 5000 rockets with an over 90 per cent success rate”.[13] David Sling, the mid-range system, was developed in 2017 and counters conventional threats from medium-range missiles, aircraft and UAVs. The uppermost tier is manned by the Arrow-2 & 3 series, also fielded in 2017, for long-range and ballistic missile defence. Arrow-3 achieved its first combat kill on 9 November 2023, shooting a Houthi missile in the Red Sea region.[14] Barely nine days before, on 31 October, Arrow-2 had engaged another missile launched from Yemen.[15]

Behind these famed IAMD systems lies Israel’s prowess in coordinating its war strategy—a national Command and Control (C2) network that fuses diverse sensors, discriminates threats, and enables rapid decisions, both offensive and defensive. Its IAMD framework integrates with its offensive component, including reconnaissance satellites, radars, UAVs, EW systems and ISTAR aircraft. It leverages Artificial Intelligence for a full-spectrum, command-and-control-enabled offensive freedom of action and strategic response across air, sea, land and space.[16]

Mission Sudarshan Chakra: The Imperatives

The prevailing theorising of Mission Sudrashan Chakra borrows heavily from India’s success in countering aerial missile and drone attacks during Operation Sindoor. Alongside strengthening of this defensive capability, the Mission looks at building a robust industrial ecosystem for its offensive platforms—missiles, aircraft, air-launched munitions and drones—besides leveraging cyber and AI aspects. Future structures also seek to integrate the intelligence and cognitive domains into India’s warfighting doctrine, an aspect highlighted by Israel’s Operation Rising Lion against Iran in 2025 and inseparable from Mission Sudarshan Chakra. As the blueprint of the Mission is finalised and the roadmap rolled out, its implementation will see India address inherent challenges, referred to here as the challenge of the C3—Complexity,........

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