Cruise Missile and Ballistic Missile
| Cruise Missile | Ballistic Missile |
| A cruise missile is guided towards a preset land-based target using a navigation system. | A ballistic missile is generally a projectile shot up in the atmosphere. |
| Cruise missiles are known for low altitude flight and high mobility and hence the name. | Ballistic missiles are launched outside the atmosphere where its warheads detach and hit the target. (uses gravity of earth and thus traces a parabolic path and hence the name) |
| Cruise missile have short ranges of 300 to 1000 km Brahmos – 290 to 450 km Nirbhay – 700 to 1000 | Ballistic missile have long ranges upto 1000 km (ICBMs) Agni V – 5000 km |
| Easy to intercept because of high terminal speeds. | Difficult to intercept due to high terminal speeds of 5000 m/s |
| High precision due to navigation system | Low precision |
| Cheaper and thus suitable for firing conventional warheads | Expensive and thus suitable for firing nuclear warheads. |
Ballistic Missiles
- Surface-to-Surface Missiles
- Short-range Ballistic Missile
| Name | Range | Weapon Payload | Characteristics |
| Prithvi-I | 150 KM | 1000kg | Short range surface-to-surface tactical ballistic missile |
| Prithvi-II | 350 KM | 500Kg | Airforce Version |
| Prithvi-III | 350 KM | 1000kg | |
| Dhanush | 350 KM | 1000Kg | Naval Version of Prithvi I and Prithvi II class missiles |
| Shaurya | 600-700 KM | 1000 Kg | Hypersonic Canister-launched Both conventional and nuclear warheads |
| Prahaar | 150 KM | 250 Kg | To replace Prithvi I Weapons: High explosives, cluster munition, strategic nuclear weapon |
| Agni-I | 700–900 km range | 1000Kg | Single stage solid fuelled Nuclear capable missile |
Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile
| Name | Range | Weapon Payload | Characteristics |
| Agni-II | 2000-3000 Km | 1000Kg | Two and a half stage, solid fuelled missile with |
| Agni-III | 3200 Km | 2000-2500 Kg | 2-stage solid propulsion system |
| Agni-IV | 3500 Km | 1000 Kg | 2-stage missile powered by solid propellant |
Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile
| Name | Range | Weapon Payload | Characteristics |
| Agni-V | 5000 Km | 1500 Kg | 3-10 Multiple Independent Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) warheads |
| Agni-VI | 8,000–10,000 km (Under development) | 1000 Kg | 10 MIRV warheads |
| Surya | 10000 Km (Under development) | 3000 Kg | 10 MIRV warheads |
Submarine-launched Ballistic Missile
| Name | Range | Weapon Payload | Characteristics |
| K-15 Sagarika | 750 km | 500 Kg | Replica of land based Shaurya Missile. K-15 Missile gets help from Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. The K-series missiles are much faster than Agni Missiles |
| K-4 | 3500 Km | 1000 Kg | Nuclear-capable underwater missile Meant for Arihant class submarines. It is a solid-fuelled missile launched underwater capable of withstanding 50N of water pressure. Submarine version of Agni 3. (Agni 3 – 17 m K-4 – 10 m) |
| K5 (Under development) | 5000 Km | ||
| K6 (Under development) | 6000 Km |
Cruise Missiles
| Name | Range | Weapon Payload | Characteristics |
| Nirbhay : Subsonic Cruise Missile | 750-1000 Km | 500 Kg | Long range sub-sonic cruise missile. 1st indigenously developed long range cruise missile flying at low altitudes. It is will arm the army, the navy and the air force. Speed: Subsonic speeds of 0.7 mach. (speed of sound) Range: Long range of 700 to 1000 km. Can fly at tree-top altitudes as low as 10 m. (now tested for 5 m) Capable of delivering nuclear warheads of 200-300 kg. 2-stage solid fuelled cruise missile. As a result it has terrain-hugging capability and sea-skimming capability and thus go undetected by enemy radars. |
| Brahmos: Supersonic Cruise Missile | 290 Km | 300 kg | Joint venture missile between India and Russia. Speed: Top speed of 2.8 Mach (speed of sound). Range: After India became a full member to MTCR export control regime, the range of BrahMos has increased from 300km to 450km. Fire and forget principle of operation Capable of being launched from land, water and air. BrahMos NG Low weight Air-launched version capable of being carried by Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas LCA |
| Brahmos II:Hypersonic | 290 Km | 300 Kg | 6 Mach |
Short-range Surface-to-Air Missiles
| Name | Range | Weapon Payload | Characteristics |
| Trishul | 9 – 12 Km | 5 Kg | Short range low-level surface-to-air missile |
| Akash | 30 Km | 50 Kg | Supersonic speed: Mach 2.5. Medium range surface-to-air missile Part of Air-defence system It can simultaneously engage multiple targets in Group Mode or Autonomous Mode. It has built in Electronic Counter-Counter Measures (ECCM) features. Indigenous seeker technology. |
| Maitri (QRSAM) | 25–30 km | 10 Kg | Developed by DRDO in collaboration with BEL and Bharat Dynamics Ltd. Most effective in combating low flying Aerial targets faced by forward tactical battlefield area formations like Attack helicopters, UAVs, Armed drones, Sub-sonic Cruise missiles QRSAM is part of India’s air defense system. Capable of striking targets on-the-move. It can strike targets at various altitudes from 30m to 6km. It has a speed of 700-800 meters per second RF seeker (Radio Frequency) as a part of terminal guidance to hit the target. It has a truck-mounted canister. It is capable of multiple-target engagement. It is light-weight, has high-mobility and shorter-reaction time compared to Akash Air Defence Surface-to-Air Missiles. It is equipped with electronic counter measures against the aircraft jammers to deceive enemy radar. |
| Revati | 25–30 km | 10 Kg | (Naval-Version of Maitri) |
| Rohini | 25–30 km | 10 Kg | (Airforce-Version of Maitri) |
| Barak-8 | 70-100 Km | 60 Kg | Indian-Israeli Medium Range Surface-to-Air-Missile Part of naval air defence system To be used aboard INS Vikrant (under construction) maximum speed of Mach 2 |
| Igla-S | Maximum range of 6km, altitude of 3km | Russia’s Very Short Range Air Defence Systems (VSHORAD) Man-Portable Shoulder launched Air Defence System It can aim at enemy targets using Infrared signature Laser targeting Remote-controlled targeting |
Air-to-Air Missile
| Name | Characteristics |
| Astra | It is a BvRAAM (Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile). 1st air to air missile developed by India. Capable of engaging targets at varying range and altitudes. Both short range targets at a distance of 20 km and long range targets up to a distance of 80-110 km. |
Anti-Tank Guided Missile
| Name | Range | Weapon Payload | Characteristics |
| Nag | 3-7 Km | 8 kg | 3rd generation anti-tank missile, best in its class for Indian conditions. Fire and forget capability. Imaging Infrared(IIR) guidance with day and night capability Weight – 48 Kg and therefore fired from a BMP-2 vehicle called Namica(Nag Missile Carrier) Different Variants 1. Mounted on an infantry combat vehicle: NAMICA (Nag Missile Carrier) 2. Man Portable shoulder carried 3. HeliNa: (Helicopter-launched Nag) Rudra Helicopter, Dhruv and LCH. |
| HeliNa | 7 Km | 8 Kg | Helicopter-launched Nag |
| Spike | Israeli 4th generation anti-tank guided missile. Fire-and-forget capability Available in man-portable, vehicle-launched, and helicopter-launched variants. Change the target mid-flight as a result of dual-seeker. Kill-probability of 95% Better than Nag because Nag is facing seeker issues especially if the temperature of the target is high. | ||
| MILAN | It is anti tank guided missile for the Army. To be acquired from France. | ||
| SPICE 2000 | Israeli guided bombs for Indian Air Force. |
