A Phased Approach to India’s Missile Defense Planning

A. Vinod Kumar
A. Vinod Kumar was Associate Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), and a Visiting Faculty at the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies (IFPS), University… Continue reading A Phased Approach to India’s Missile Defense Planning read more
Volume:32
Issue:2
Articles

India’s missile defence explorations had long been hindered by its limited access to advanced interception technologies and slow pace of indigenization. India is now developing lower- and upper-tier systems for air and missile defence applications, while also aspiring for longer range exoatmospheric interception capability. However, considering that India’s requirements are skewed towards lower tier threats, it is prudent to have an all-inclusive architecture that can meet all realistic threats (including air-breathing), with limited financial and political implications. This article formulates a phased approach towards constructing an air/missile defence infrastructure and proposes an enhanced air defence capability as an alternative architecture.