India has many missiles in its inventory and all of them are powerful and capable of destroying targets. Read About : The Missiles of India. In these missiles there are surface to surface missiles which can eradicate its target completely. In this article you will know about the Surface to Surface missiles of India.
What are Surface to Surface missiles ?
A surface-to-surface missile is a missile that is launched from the ground to strike land or sea targets. They may be fired from hand-held or vehicles, from a ship or ground installations. It is often powered by a rocket engine or sometimes fired by an explosive charge since the launching platform is typically stationary or moving slowly. They usually have fins and/or wings for lift and stability, although hyper-velocity or short-ranged missiles may use body lift or fly a ballistic trajectory.
List of the Surface to Surface Missiles of India
Agni series
Prithvi Series
Dhanush Surface to Surface Missiles
Shaurya Surface to Surface Missiles
Prahaar Surface to Surface Missiles
Agni series
The Agni missile is a family of medium to intercontinental range ballistic missiles developed by India. It is named after one of the five elements of nature. Agni missiles are long range, nuclear weapons capable, surface to surface ballistic missiles. The first missile of the series, Agni-I was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (lGMDP) and tested in 1989. After its success, the Agni missile program was separated from the GMDP upon realising its strategic importance.
Variants of Agni Missiles
1. Agni-I
2. Agni-II
3. Agni-III
4. Agni-IV
5. Agni-V
Prithvi Series
Prithvi missile is a tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP). It is deployed by India’s Strategic Forces Command.
The Prithvi missile project is developing three variants for use by the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy.
Variants of Prithvi Missiles :-
1. Prithvi I (SS-150)
2. Prithvi II (SS-250)
3. Prithvi III (SS-350)
Dhanush Surface to Surface Missiles
A variant of the surface-to-surface or ship-to-ship Prithvi III missile is the Dhanush Missile. It is developed for the Indian Navy. It is capable of carrying both conventional as well as nuclear warheads with pay-load capacity of 500 kg-1000 kg and can strike targets in the range of 350 km. Dhanush has to be launched from a hydraulically stabilized launch pad. Its low range acts against it and thus it is seen as a weapon either to be used to destroy an aircraft carrier or an enemy port. The missile has been tested from surface ships of the navy many times.
The Dhanush missile can be used as an anti-ship weapon as well as for destroying land targets depending on the range.
Shaurya Surface to Surface Missiles
Shaurya is a canister-launched hypersonic surface-to-surface tactical missile. India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developed this missile for use by the Indian Armed Forces. It has a range of 700 to 1,900 km and is capable of carrying a payload of 200 to 1,000 kg conventional or nuclear warhead. It gives the potential to strike at a very long range against any adversary.
As of 6 October 2020, the Union Government of India under the guidance of National Security Council (NSC) approved the induction and deployment of Shaurya in Strategic Forces Command (SFC).
Prahaar Surface to Surface Missiles
Prahaar is an Indian solid-fuel road-mobile tactical ballistic missile. India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developed this powerful missile. Prahaar is expected to replace the Prithvi-I short-range ballistic missile in Indian service.
It has a mass of 1,280 Kg with a length of 7.32m. Having the operational range of 150 km with a maximum speed of mach 4 this missile can fly at an altitude of 35 km.
Variants of Prahaar Missiles
1. Pragati (Range 170 Km)
2. Pranash (Range 200 Km)
References from :-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missiles_by_country#India
