Sindoor, a made-in-India arms story

Time of India

14-05-2025

File photo
As the dust settles after Operation Sindoor, directed against Pakistan and terror actors on its soil, what is becoming clear is the resounding success of India's nascent defence industry.
It is believed India used
BrahMos
supersonic cruise missiles and other precision-strike weapons to inflict damage to terror bases and military installations deep inside Pakistan. Indian armed forces also deployed indigenous
Akash
air defence missiles and D4 anti-drone systems to repel wave after wave of Pakistani aerial strikes, letting very little pass through.
'During this operation, the credibility of our Made-in-India weapons was firmly established. The world now recognises that the time for Made-in-India defence equipment in 21st-century warfare has arrived,' PM
Narendra Modi
said on May 12 in his address to the nation after Operation Sindoor's success.
For the past several years, the govt has been pushing to maximise acquisition of defence equipment through indigenous sources and promote domestic manufacturing to reduce dependence on foreign-origin weapons as part of its flagship 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' programme. Parallelly, India's defence exports reached a record high of Rs 23,622 crore in 2024-25, a 12% surge over the previous year.
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Undo
The might of BrahMos
BrahMos (the name represents two rivers: the Indian Brahmaputra and
Moskva
of Russia) flies at a speed of
Mach
2.8, or almost three times the speed of sound, and is considered to be one of the world's fastest supersonic cruise missiles.
It is produced by BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, a Delhi-based joint venture between Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya or NPOM.
BrahMos can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land platforms. India has successfully tested all variants of BrahMos and inducted the missile system into its military years ago.
In 2019, the range of this home-grown missile was enhanced up to 450km with a top official then saying, 'India is now the only country in the world to integrate long-range missiles into fighter jets [Sukhoi 30]'.
India recently exported these missiles to the Philippines as part of a $375 million deal signed in 2022.
Efforts are also on to develop a hypersonic version of the missile, tentatively named BrahMos-II. According to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between New Delhi and Moscow, BrahMos-II will be based on a hypersonic scramjet technology. The main purpose of such a weapon is to target deeply buried enemy nuclear bunkers and heavily protected locations; all three military services will utilise this weapon.
Referring to the new BrahMos integration and testing facility that was inaugurated in Lucknow last week, former DRDO chief G Satheesh Reddy said it is capable of delivering 100-150 missiles annually. India has two more BrahMos production facilities — in Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram.
The Akash Shield
Developed by DRDO and manufactured by state-run Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), Akash is a short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM). It is part of India's multi-layered air defence system, which played a decisive role in thwarting Pakistani aerial incursions into India recently.
Akash is probably the first-of-its-kind system in the world that is capable of engaging four aerial targets simultaneously at a range of 25km. The new variant — Akash-NG — has an extended range of 70-80km.
The missile is equipped with electronic counter-countermeasure (ECCM) capabilities, enabling it to penetrate enemy jamming and other evasion tactics.
The Akash system is designed for mobile platforms, making it highly agile and capable of rapid deployment anywhere.
While some analysts have likened India's Akash with Israel's famous Iron Dome missile system, there are some fundamental distinctions between the two.
First, Akash is a larger platform than the Israeli one. Also, while the Iron Dome is a potent shield against short-range rockets and artillery shells, Akash is capable of intercepting missiles, combat drones as well as aircraft.
India reportedly signed a deal with Armenia in 2022 to export 15 units of the Akash missile systems. Brazil and Egypt have also shown interest in this weapon.
How D4 disabled enemy drones
India resorted to both kinetic and non-kinetic (jamming) warfare to thwart Pakistani drone swarms. Reports suggest the DRDO-developed D-4 anti-drone system was used in the recent military operations. It can disable ordinary drones as well as unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) employing electronic jamming and spoofing techniques.
D4 (Drone-Detect,
Deter
and Destroy) also has a laser-based kill mechanism to
destroy
enemy drones. It's unclear if this hard-kill method was used in the recent conflict.
This system integrates radars, RF (radio frequency) sensors, and EO/IR (electro-optical/infrared) cameras, thereby offering a multi-sensor and 360-degree approach to detect incoming drones.
Multiple DRDO labs, including the Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), Bengaluru; Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL), and the Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS), both in Hyderabad; and Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun, contributed towards developing this system.
Indo-Israeli collaborations
Weapons jointly developed with Israel such as Barak-8 missiles and SkyStriker kamikaze drones also contributed significantly to India's defensive and offensive actions during Operation Sindoor.
Barak-8 is a medium range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) jointly developed by DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries. India's military last month conducted successful tests of this air defence system.
The MRSAM includes mobile launchers that can be deployed on land or on navy vessels. The missile is capable of intercepting targets of up to 70km range.
In India, it is produced by BDL, Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS) and Tata Advanced Systems (TASL).
SkyStriker is a loitering munition jointly developed by Israel's Elbit Systems and Adani Group's Alpha Design Technologies. Although a drone, SkyStriker can be used as a precision weapon. It hovers over the target area to identify and engage threats, operating either autonomously or under human supervision.
Import dependence
While India did demonstrate the effectiveness of its Made-in-India weapons, it still remains heavily dependent on arms imports. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India is the second-largest arms buyer in the world, with an 8.3% share of global imports between 2020 and 2024.
Russia remains India's main weapons supplier, accounting for 36% of its arms imports. Russia's overall share, however, has been steadily declining (72% in 2010-14 and 55% in 2015-19) with India increasingly turning to countries like France, Israel and the US.