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NEW DELHI The recent unveiling of a locally produced laser weapon that can knock out drones has put the spotlight on cutting-edge defence technologies that India has demonstrated over the past two to three years, with the developments boosting the country’s global stature and paving the way for the armed forces to deploy a new range of weapons, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.
New weapons propel India into select league
Only a select league of countries possesses many of the technologies that India has showcased to boost its military power, the officials said, asking not to be named.
The April 13 successful trial of the directed energy weapon (DEW) system with a 30-kilowatt laser came three months after India for the first time carried out a ground test of a scramjet engine, an air breathing engine capable of sustaining combustion during supersonic flights. The development is being seen as a crucial milestone in developing next-generation hypersonic missiles that can travel at speeds of more than Mach 5 or five times the speed of sound.
The few countries that have mastered the technology to disable missiles, drones and smaller projectiles using a laser weapon include the US, Russia, China, the UK, Germany and Israel. Similarly, only the US, Russia and China have developed technologies to field fast-manoeuvring hypersonic missiles that fly at lower altitudes and are extremely hard to track and intercept.
Other notable achievements by India include the trial of the 3,500km range K-4 nuclear capable ballistic missile from a submarine, the testing of the second phase of India’s ballistic missile defence system, developing the Agni-5 missile with multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) technology, and the first anti-radiation missile Rudram.
The DRDO’s Hyderabad-based Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (Chess) has developed the DEW that can engage targets at the speed of light. The test came at a time when the proliferation of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and the emergence of drone swarms as asymmetric threats are driving the demand for DEWs with counter-UAS and counter-swarm capabilities.
Last year witnessed some key milestones too.
In November 2024, India’s second indigenous nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine INS Arighaat launched the K-4 missile for the first time, a step towards strengthening the country’s nuclear triad (ability to launch strategic weapons from land, sea and air). India also tested its first long-range hypersonic missile, a weapon designed to deliver various payloads at ranges greater than 1,500km.
In March 2024, India tested the Agni-5 missile with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) technology, with the new capability allowing the weapon system to deliver multiple nuclear warheads against different targets spread across hundreds of kilometres.
The test propelled India into a select league of countries that have the capability to deploy MIRV missile systems, including the US, the UK, France, Russia and China. MIRVs can cause more destruction than traditional missiles that carry a single warhead.
India is also developing a long-range surface-to-air missile system under the DRDO’s Project Kusha. It will have a range of 350km and is expected to be deployed in four to five years.
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