Indian Air Force and Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) work together to make a proposal to the Indian government to install Indigenous Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) to protect the capital New Delhi.

PAD Exo-atmospheric interceptor missile, being integrated at the Programme Air Defence ABM missile production facilities in Hyderabad. The PAD missile is part of India's Ballistic Missile Defense Program. It was first tested on 27th November 2006. (Picture source Wikimedia)

The BMD and the latest acquisition of Russian-made S-400 missile systems will offer new protection for India against incoming aerial threats as missiles and other flying targets.

The Indian Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Program is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defense system to protect India from ballistic missile attacks. The BMD system consists of a Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile and an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Missile for high and low altitude interception. The PAD intercepts missiles at altitudes between 50 km to 80 km and the AAD missile destroys them at altitudes from 15 km to 30 km.

The PAD is a two-stage missile based on the Prithvi missile. It has a maximum interception altitude of 80 km. The first stage is liquid-fuelled and the second stage is solid fuelled. The missile is equipped with maneuver thrusters for lateral acceleration. It can engage ballistic missiles with a range fro 300 km to 2,000 km range at a speed of Mach 5.

The AAD is a single-stage solid rocket propelled guided missile. It can intercept incoming ballistic missiles at altitudes of up to 30 km.

On 15 October 2016 during the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Summit, India and Russia signed an Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) for the supply of five S-400 air defense missile systems regiments. The deal worth $US 5.43 billion was formally signed on 5 October 2018. The S-400 is expected to be inducted into Indian Armed Forces in October 2020.