Science & Technology Quiz: Missile Systems of India

The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, usually written IGMDP, was approved in 1983 and placed under the Defence Research and Development Organisation, with A. P. J. Abdul Kalam as its head.

The five missiles of the IGMDP were Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag. BrahMos came later and from a different route altogether, as a joint venture between India and Russia, and it is a supersonic cruise missile, while the IGMDP produced ballistic and guided missiles of Indian design.

BrahMos is built by a joint venture of India and Russia, and its name joins the Brahmaputra of India with the Moskva of Russia to mark the partnership.

Nag is a third generation anti-tank guided missile of the fire and forget kind, which means the operator can leave cover once the missile has locked on to the target.

Akash was one of the five missiles of the IGMDP and is meant to destroy aircraft and helicopters at medium range.

Astra is fired from a fighter aircraft at another aircraft that is still beyond the pilot's sight, which is what beyond visual range means, and it uses an active radar seeker in its final phase.

Agni-V is a three-stage solid-fuelled missile with a range beyond five thousand kilometres, which places it in the intercontinental ballistic missile class.

K-15, called Sagarika, is the first of the K series of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, developed for the Arihant class of nuclear powered submarines, and the longer-ranged K-4 follows it in the same family.

Nirbhay is a long-range cruise missile that flies below the speed of sound, which is what subsonic means, and it is powered by a small turbofan engine that keeps it flying throughout its journey.

The Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, on the Odisha coast near Balasore, is the main missile testing facility of the DRDO, and many launches are also made from Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Island off the same coast, which was earlier called Wheeler Island.

Mission Shakti was conducted on 27 March 2019, when a DRDO interceptor launched from Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Island destroyed a satellite of India's own in a low earth orbit.

Dhanush is the ship-launched variant of the Prithvi short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile, fired from a stabilised platform on a naval vessel, and it can be used against targets on land or at sea.