DRDO Missile Systems & Strategic Weapons

India's strategic deterrence and missile capabilities were established primarily through the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), launched in 1983 under the leadership of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The IGMDP developed five core missile systems (PATNA): Prithvi (surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile), Agni (surface-to-surface ballistic missile series, progressing from Agni-I to the intercontinental Agni-V with 5,000+ km range), Trishul (short-range surface-to-air), Akash (medium-range surface-to-air missile), and Nag (third-generation fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile). In supersonic cruise technology, BrahMos—a joint venture between DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya named after the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers—is the world's fastest operational supersonic cruise missile, operating at speeds of Mach 2.8 to 3.0 across sea, land, and air launch platforms.