New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Thursday successfully carried out the maiden flight test of Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile Kusha from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the successful test flight of Kusha marks an important milestone in Indian defence R&D.
“The capability in developing long range surface-to-air missile systems is possessed only by a handful of nations. This will also eliminate the import dependency for such systems and signifies a giant leap in air defence capability of the nation. I congratulate DRDO and other stakeholders for this achievement,” he said in a statement.
This maiden test was conducted against an electronic target simulating high-speed and high-altitude aerial threat which was successfully intercepted by the missile system.
All weapon system elements, including the missiles, radars, command and control centre, have been developed by various DRDO laboratories and Industry partners.
The Kusha missile system is capable of neutralising a wide variety of aerial threats, including fighter jets, missiles, UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and large enemy aircraft within a wide range and altitude envelope.
DRDO successfully conducted the maiden flight-test of the indigenous ‘Kusha’ Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile from APJ Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha, successfully intercepting a high-speed, high-altitude aerial target. The advanced system is capable of engaging a wide spectrum of… pic.twitter.com/BjJo74PcAx
— Ministry of Defence, Government of India (@SpokespersonMoD) July 23, 2026
Kusha will form a key element of India’s planned air defense umbrella called Sudarshan Chakra.
Kusha is India’s own long-range air defence system. It will not be a system that will replace the S-400 Triumf, but will complement it.
“The Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) system that we use has a range of about 7-80 kilometres, and the next one available is the S-400, which has a range of up to 400 kilometres. This is where Project Kusha comes in. And yes, eventually Kusha will match the S-400 capabilities,” a source said, explaining what the project is all about.
The project was cleared for development by the Cabinet Committee on Security in May 2022, and was granted a procurement nod by the Defence Ministry in September 2023 for five squadrons at Rs 21,700 crore.
The plan is to have three variants of interceptor missiles, designated M1, M2 and M3. The missiles will have ranges of 150 km, 250 km and 350–400 km, respectively.
Once the Air Force variant is made, the DRDO plans to make a Naval version of the Kusha defence system as well.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)