When Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the mythological Sudarshan Chakra on Independence Day, announcing India’s ambitious mission to deploy a comprehensive AI-powered missile defence system by 2035, he wasn’t merely drawing upon ancient symbolism. He was articulating a stark strategic reality: In an age where missiles can devastate nations within hours, absolute defence has become the cornerstone of sovereignty itself.
The urgency is unmistakable. Pakistan’s missiles tested Indian defences relentlessly during the 100-hour Operation Sindoor, while China’s expanding arsenal looms menacingly across our northern borders. The question isn’t whether India needs this protective umbrella — it’s whether we can build it fast enough before regional tensions explode into something catastrophic.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) rapid response offers encouraging signs. Within 10 days of Modi’s announcement, they successfully conducted the maiden flight of the Integrated Air Defence Weapon System (IADWS) on August 24, demonstrating India’s growing capability in multi-layered defence comprising indigenous Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missiles (QRSAM), Advanced Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missiles, and laser-based Directed Energy Weapons (DEW).
What makes Sudarshan Chakra revolutionary isn’t just its scope — it’s the integration. Unlike our current fragmented approach using Russian S-400s, indigenous Akash missiles, and Indo-Israeli Barak-8 platforms that protect select assets without seamless coordination, this system promises three unified layers: Space-based interceptors eliminating threats before atmospheric re-entry, long-range missiles catching what slips through, and laser weapons providing final protection for critical infrastructure.
The AI backbone connecting every sensor and weapon into one instantaneously responsive grid represents the real breakthrough.
Real-time threat assessment and split-second decision-making across 3.2 million square kilometers would give India something no other nation possesses: Genuine national-level missile defence covering the entire spectrum of aerial threats.
Israel’s Iron Dome provides the gold standard, intercepting thousands of rockets with over 90 per cent success rates since 2011. But the Iron Dome targets only short-range rockets, not the ballistic missiles threatening India. Israel’s multi-layered approach, including David’s Sling developed with Raytheon, offers valuable lessons for replicating this philosophy across India’s vastly larger territory.
Russia’s S-400 Triumf system, which India has purchased in five units, demonstrates long-range defence superiority by simultaneously engaging 36 targets across significantly larger areas. America’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system shows ballistic missile interception excellence, while China’s systematic progression from HQ-9 to advanced HQ-22 systems proves how nations can successfully develop independent capabilities.
However, America’s Aegis experience reveals deployment perils. Japan’s painful abandonment of the Aegis Ashore programme after costs escalated beyond $1.2 billion and technical complications forced a shift to exponentially more expensive sea-based alternatives serves as a sobering reminder of how quickly ambitious defence programmes can spiral out of control.
India faces unique obstacles defending against sophisticated adversaries sharing contested borders. Current fragmented systems might deter limited conflicts but offer little protection against coordinated, multi-domain attacks characterising modern warfare. The financial and technical challenges cannot be understated — development costs could reach tens of billions over multiple decades without guarantees of success.
Timeline complexity adds another layer of difficulty. Israel required over a decade to perfect the Iron Dome for fractional territorial requirements. The US’s programmes have stretched across decades with mixed results. India has 11 years to build something more ambitious than either precedent.
Success demands overcoming systemic weaknesses plaguing previous programmes. Sudarshan Chakra requires genuine tri-service integration from inception, not competing service rivalries undermining joint projects. Indigenous technological development remains critical — while global systems provide insights, India must develop independent capabilities avoiding sanctions and dependencies.
Most importantly, the system must integrate civilian and military protection. Future conflicts deliberately target civilian infrastructure — hospitals, power grids, transportation networks — equally with military assets. Ukraine’s devastation under Russian barrages demonstrates vulnerability even among well-prepared nations lacking comprehensive air defence. Gaza’s suffering despite Iron Dome protection illustrates that advanced systems have exploitable limitations against determined adversaries.
The nuclear dimension adds urgency and complexity. Beyond conventional defence, Sudarshan Chakra serves critical nuclear deterrent functions by ensuring retaliatory capability survivability. Effective missile defence strengthens massive retaliation doctrine credibility by guaranteeing India’s response capacity even after absorbing first strikes, making nuclear aggression demonstrably futile.
Modern warfare has fundamentally transformed. Nations unable to control airspace remain defenceless against 21st-century threats blurring military-civilian distinctions. Protecting Delhi and Mumbai alone offers no security when adversaries can devastate Bangalore’s technology centres or Chennai’s industrial infrastructure. Modern societies depend on interconnected systems that cannot function when partially destroyed.
The logic underlying Sudarshan Chakra development is strategically inescapable, but execution remains the ultimate test. Can India overcome bureaucratic inertia delaying previous projects? Can it avoid technical overreach and cost escalations plaguing similar international programs? Can it deploy this system before regional tensions explode into conflicts making defensive preparations meaningless?
Time represents India’s scarcest strategic resource. While committees debate and services argue, adversaries expand missile arsenals designed to overwhelm existing defences. The nation that gave the world Krishna’s protective shield concept must now prove it can build one in reality.
An impenetrable sky isn’t just military necessity — it’s the foundation of 21st-century sovereignty itself. In an era where missiles move faster than diplomacy, India’s Sudarshan Chakra represents more than technological ambition. It embodies the fundamental truth that in modern warfare, absolute defence has become the prerequisite for national survival.
Bhattacharjee is defence and tech policy adviser and former country head of General Dynamics. Kumar is Research Assistant at the United Service Institution of India, New Delhi
