Sudarshan Chakra “Drome” from Concept to Deployment

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the bar in his Independence Day Speech announcing an all encompassing defensive shield against incoming missiles, drones and so on. Here is a view of the concept,  current Air and Missile Defence shield, Integration and comparison with global peers along with drivers for deployment.

On the 79^th Independence Day address to the Nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the morning of August 15^th Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India will deploy an all-encompassing defensive shield like the famed Sudarshan Chakra of Lord Shri Krishna as narrated in the Mahabharata. The announcement by the Prime Minister came just a day after Pakistan announced an Army Rocket Force, though the two may not necessarily be linked.

Concept of Sudarshan Chakra

Invoking the auspicious festival of Janmashtami on August 16^th the Prime Minister outlined how despite the efforts of Pakistan to target, “our military bases, our airbases, our sensitive places, our places of worship, our citizens with missiles and drones in countless numbers,” were defeated due to the air and missile defence systems planned in the past 10 years. It was not envisaged to expand the potential of this system in which during the, “coming 10 years, by 2035, all the important places of the nation, which include strategic as well as civilian areas, like hospitals, railways, any centre of faith, will be given complete security cover through new platforms of technology”.

“This security shield should keep expanding, every citizen of the country should feel safe, Whatever technology comes to attack us, our technology should prove to be better than that and hence, in the coming 10 years, till 2035, I want to expand this national security shield, strengthen it, modernize it and hence, taking inspiration from Lord Shri Krishna, we have chosen the path of the Sudarshan Chakra of Shri Krishna”, Mr Modi said. “Now the country will launch Sudarshan Chakra Mission,” declared Mr  Modi.

Explaining the basic concept Mr Modi said, “Firstly, this entire modern system, its research, development, its manufacturing should be done in our country itself, it should be done with the talent of the youth of our country, it should be made by the people of our country”. Thus, this was to be an indigenous effort in line with the Atma Nirbhara Bharat mission.

“Secondly, there will be a system which will calculate the possibilities of the future in terms of warfare and work out the strategy of Plus One’” thus making it future proof.

The third component of the system was said to be precision.

India’s Current Air and Missile Defence Shield

In Operation Sindoor, a network of air and missile defence systems were employed to include the S  400 curiously also known as Sudarshan Chakra system. S-400 air defence systems, Akash surface-to-air missiles, Barak 8 defences, and anti-drone systems were seen as primary to defence of the air space from Pakistan’s drone swarms during Operation Sindoor in May this year.

On the ground legacy L-70 anti-aircraft guns, Zu-23mm cannons, Schilka systems, and counter-unmanned aerial systems (CUAS) were deployed to intercept Pakistani drones.

India has also developed a Ballistic Missile Defence Shield in two phases – Phase 1 for shorter range missiles and Phase II for the longer range version. As per details provided, Phase-II AD Endo-atmospheric missile is an indigenously developed Two Stage solid propelled ground launched missile system meant for neutralising many types of enemy ballistic missile threats in the altitude bracket of endo to low exo-atmospheric regions.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy have also successfully conducted a maiden flight trial of sea-based endo-atmospheric interceptor missile off the coast of Odisha in the Bay of Bengal

Under the circumstances, problem of intercommunications and interoperability for Indian Armed Forces due to platforms procured from multiple international partners may grow acute in the hyper networked environment.

The efficacy of varied systems working on a common network remains a major concern and may create gaps that could be exploited by potential adversaries. Thus integration will be essential as explained below.

Integration of  Systems

Indian Air Force [IAF] Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) has proved successful during Operation Sindoor. The IACCS is an automated Air Defense Command and Control center for controlling and monitoring air operations by the Indian Air Force as per details provided by the Hindustan Times. Recognised Air Situation Picture (RASP) information is available at multiple levels strategic level (Air Headquarters), Operational level (Command Headquarters), and Tactical Level (Divisional level).

The IACCS in turn receives data from different types of homogeneous/ heterogeneous radars (2-D or 3-D), generate reports from mobile observation posts, and integrates other data elements from various other Air Force Airbases or Civilian agencies viz Air Traffic Control, Air Force Movement Liaison Unit including airborne AWACS, etc. to create real-time comprehensive Recognised Air Situation Picture (RASP) at IACCS Command & Control Centre (C & C Centre).  The IACCS was effectively integrated with the Indian Army AD control system Akashteer. These have been able to successfully intercept multiple drones and missiles launched by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.

Plus One System

The Sudarshan Chakra Mission will envisage the next phase of development and deployment of the air and missile defence to defend against future threats which will also include multiple domains from aerospace to cyber and electronics.

One such system as per the Times of India, Project Kusha which will have interceptor missiles to hit hostile targets at 150-km, 250-km and 350-km ranges. Phase-1 of this air defence system to be ready by 2028-29 is also being planned. More such systems will be in the offing.

Comparative Global Systems

The comparison of Sudarshan Chakra system is being carried out with Israel’s Iron Dome and the proposal by US President Donald Trump -Golden Drome

The Iron Dome covers Israel’s national spectrum from a threat from multiple directions – Gaza, Lebanon – Hezbollah and now Yemen. Yet most of these are rockets and slow moving missiles, the strength of the Iron Dome lies in the ability to destroy a large swarm simultaneously. At the same time, it is relatively cheap in thousands of dollars compared to other missile defence systems which may cost millions for a single missile.

The American planned Golden Dome is in the conceptual stage and replicates somewhat the Reagan administration Star Wars but also has a ground layer. Golden Dome is seen as a “system of systems” with several “layers,” sensors on the ground and on satellites with interceptors that will be based terrestrially as well as in the space.

The Drivers for Developing Sudarshan Chakra

The drivers for development and deployment will remain allocation of budgets for the systems being developed are likely to be expensive and may come from the DRDOs budget for strategic systems.

Technology is another driver and here clearly assistance from Israel may be in the offing. While the vast geography of India is unlikely to be covered by the  Sudarshan Chakra Mission, critical border zones and high value nodes as Delhi and Mumbai or the Siliguri corridor may be in the offing.  

For achieving the mission, a special project will have to be created to synergize multiple agencies to achieve the vision outlined by the Prime Minister.