Missiles Of India

General Awareness is one of the most important part of various competitive examinations. It contains various subjects, defence is one of them. The Important Missiles of India, which is part of defence section in the syllabus, is one of the most important topic for the General Awareness Section and needs to be prepared nicely for various Government Recruitment Exams like Banking, Insurance, SSC & much more.

Basics of Missile System of India :

Basically, a missile is a self-propelled guided munition system. The first missiles were developed by Nazi Germany in WWII. These were simply radio-controlled by the operator & were only built in small numbers.

Missiles are intelligent unmanned rockets designed to deliver payloads to specific points to destroy objects/targets.

Components of Missile:

Classification of Missiles :

Missiles are generally classified on the basis of their type, launch mode, range, Propulsion system, warhead and guided system. 

Surface to Surface Missiles: These missiles are designed to be launched from the surface and can hit the surface target or sea target.

Surface to Air Missiles: These are also called infrared-guided missiles. These are launched from the surface and can hit the target aircraft or missiles.

Surface to Sea: Such kinds of missiles can be launched from the surface and can destroy the target in the sea.

Air to Air: As the name suggests, such kinds of missiles are fired from the air and hit the targets in the air. The missile flies at a speed of 4 Mach.

Sea-to-Sea Missile: A sea-to-sea missile is designed for launch from one ship to another ship.

Sea-to-Surface (Coast) Missile: A sea-to-surface missile is designed for launch from a ship to hit land-based targets.

Anti-Tank Missile: An anti-tank missile is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armoured tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. Anti-tank missiles could be launched from aircraft, helicopters, tanks and also from shoulder mounted launcher.

IMPORTANT MISSILES OF INDIA :

SURFACE TO SURFACE MISSILES
Name	Type	Range	Speed
Prithvi I	Short Range Ballistic missile	150 km
Prithvi II	Short Range Ballistic missile	250 km
Prithvi III	Short Range Ballistic missile	350 km
Dhanush	variant of the surface-to-surface or ship-to-ship Prithvi III missile	350 km

AIR-TO-AIR MISSILES
Name	Type	Operational Range	Speed
MICA	Air To Air	500m – 80 km	Mach 4
Astra	Air To Air	80-100 km	Mach 4.5+
K-100 / Novator	Medium Range Air to Air	300-400 km	Mach 3.3

SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES
Name	Type	Operational Range	Speed
Agni-I	Medium Range Ballistic Missile	700 -1500 km	Mach 7.5
Agni-II	Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile	2000 -3000 km	Mach 12
Agni-III	Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile	3500 – 5000 km	5-6 km/s
Agni-IV	Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile	3000-4000 km	Mach 7
Agni- V	Intercontinental Ballistic Missile	5000 – 8000 km	Mach 24
Dhanush	Short-Range Ballistic Missile	350-600 km
Shaurya	Medium Range Ballistic Missile	750-1900 km
Prahaar	Short Range Ballistic Missile	150 km

CRUISE MISSILES
Name	Type	Range	Speed
BrahMos (India-Russia)	Fastest Supersonic Cruise Missile in the world  Multiplatform : Ship, submarine, aircraft and land.	290 km	2.8 -3 Mach
BrahMos II	Hypersonic cruise missile(Ship, submarine, aircraft and land)	300km	7 Mach
Nirbhay	Subsonic cruise missile (Ship, submarine, aircraft and land)	1,000 -1500 km	0.8 Mach
BrahMos-A	Air launched Cruise Missile	500 km
Brahmos-M	Smaller variant of the air-launched BrahMos	290 km
BrahMos-NG	Mini version based on the existing BrahMos	290 km

DEFENCE MISSILES
Name	Type	Range	Speed
Prithvi Air Defence	Exo-atmospheric Anti-ballistic missile	Altitude- 80km	Mach 5+
Prithvi Defence Vehicle	Exo-atmospheric Anti-ballistic missile	Altitude- 150km	Mach 4.5
Advanced Air Defence	Endoatmospheric Anti-ballistic missile	Altitude- 30km

SUBMARINE LAUNCHED BALLISTIC MISSILES
Name	Type	Range	Speed
Ashwin	Ballistic Missile	150-200 km	Mach 4.5
Sagarika (K – 15)	Ballistic Missile	700 – 1900 Km
K4	Ballistic Missile	3,500–5,000 km
K5	Ballistic Missile	6000 km

ANTI-TANK MISSILES
Name	Type	Range	Speed
Amogha 1	Anti-Tank Guided Missile	2.8 km
Nag	Anti Tank Guided Missile	4 km	230 m/s
Helina	Anti Tank Guided Missile	7 – 8 km
Ashwin Ballistic Missile Interceptor or Advanced Air Defence (AAD)	Ballistic Missile interceptor / anti aircraft missile	150+ km