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places India among a select group of nations with hypersonic missile technology, reinforcing its strategic deterrence and operational flexibility in a contested environment. The missile’s design shares similarities with the Agni I-class, indicating progress in hypersonic weaponry.

The BM-04 is designed as a boost-glide vehicle, enabling it to achieve hypersonic speeds (Mach 5 and above). This makes it capable of evading radar and missile defenses. The missile was showcased at the Vigyan Vaibhav 2025 defense exhibition in Hyderabad, marking a significant step in India’s missile development.

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Russian defence ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on 20 March that the Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missile hit a Ukrainian fuel depot in Kostiantynivka near the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv.

He added: “Kalibr cruise missiles were launched from the waters of the Black Sea against the Nizhyn plant that repairs Ukrainian armoured vehicles damaged in fighting.”

The attacks marked the second day in a row that Russia used the Kinzhal, a weapon capable of striking targets 2,000km (1,250 miles) away at 10 times the speed of sound.

Konashenkov added that another attack by air-launched missiles hit a facility in Ovruch in the northern Zhytomyr region where foreign fighters and Ukrainian special forces were based.

The previous day, the Russian military said the Kinzhal had been used for the first time in combat to destroy an ammunition depot in Diliatyn in the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine.

‘Kamikaze drones’

Russia prides itself on its advanced weaponry, and President Vladimir Putin said in December that Russia was the global leader in hypersonic missiles, whose speed, manoeuvrability and altitude make them difficult to track and intercept.

The Kinzhal missiles are part of an array of weapons unveiled in 2018. Russia first used the hypersonic missile during its military campaign in Syria in 2016.

Putin has called the Kinzhal missile “an ideal weapon” given its speed and ability to overcome air-defence systems.

“This is a missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads and is believed to be undetectable by western air defence systems,” said Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, speaking from Moscow. “It is being called an unstoppable ballistic missile.”

Putin announced an array of new hypersonic weapons in 2018 in one of his most bellicose speeches in years, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a US-built missile shield.

The following year, he threatened to deploy hypersonic missiles on ships and submarines that could lurk outside US territorial waters if Washington moved to deploy intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe.

The US has actively pursued the development of hypersonic weapons – manoeuvering weapons that fly at speeds of at least Mach 5 – as a part of its conventional Prompt Global Strike programme since the early 2000s, according to a new congressional report.

These weapons could enable “responsive, long-range, strike options against distant, defended, and/or time-critical threats [such as road-mobile missiles] when other forces are unavailable, denied access, or not preferred”, said former Commander of US Strategic Command General John Hyten.

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Shaurya is the land version of the submarine-launched BA-05 missile and has been developed by the DRDO. The missile used in the 3 October test was a land version missile. It was tested discreetly tested for the final time before induction as part of user trials. The missile can fly at supersonic speeds of Mach 7 at a height of 50 km and can hit the target at Mach 4 speed with a warhead weighing around 160 kilograms.

The surface-to-surface medium range Shaurya missile, blasted off from a canister from the Abdul Kalam Island test range off Dhamra. The canister-launched missile has been developed by the DRDO. It was test-fired with a dummy payload from a land-based platform in a fully operational configuration.

ALSO READ: FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES : Hypersonic Weapons – The New Arms Race

The missile, equipped with multiple advanced computing technology and high accuracy navigation, efficient propulsion, sophisticated control and guidance systems, successfully followed its target in the Bay of Bengal.

The indigenously-developed missile was tracked and monitored through an integrated system of sophisticated radars, electro-optical tracking instruments and a chain of telemetry stations positioned in different points, they said. It performed a manoeuvre in the terminal phase and hit the impact point. It was the first user-specific trial of the missile that is a land variant of submarine-launched ballistic missile K-15.

The two-stage missile that uses solid propellants can deceive enemy radars after launch, the officials said. The 10 metre-long missile – weighing 6.2 tonne – can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads weighing up to 1,000 kilograms. The missile has a strike range of 700 to 1,800 kilometres and can carry warheads with a payload of up to a tonne. It boasts of a two-engine system which accelerates it to six times the speed of sound before it reaches the height of 50 kilometres, post which it cruises towards the intended target.

Highly manoeuvrable, the missile is less vulnerable to anti-ballistic missile defence systems, thus adding to its strategic importance. It boasts of unique capability, wherein it can guide itself up to the target like a cruise missile while being powered by solid fuel like a ballistic missile. Once launched, Shaurya would be difficult to track by radars as the window for detection, tracking and interception is only 400 seconds. Like the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, Shaurya can be stored in a composite canister, making it easier to handle and transport.

Like a ballistic missile, it is powered by solid fuel, but can guide itself up to the target like a cruise missile, the officials added.

The test was significant as it was one of the China-specific missiles developed by the nation. If launched from a submarine off the Chinese coast, the missile can cover many of the major Chinese cities.

The government has quietly approved induction and deployment of Shaurya strategic missile even as forward movement has been recorded in development of 5,000 km range K-5 submarine-launched ballistic missile.

Shaurya is a delivery system stored in a composite canister for rapid deployment and minimum interaction with the elements for a long period. The strategic missile flies at a supersonic speed of Mach 7, or 2.4 km per second, at a height of 50 km (within atmosphere) and hits the designated target at Mach 4.

The missile will be soon deployed at locations identified by the Indian Strategic Forces Command under guidance from National Security Council.

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