Shaurya surfaces as India’s underwater nuclear missile

The country’s top defence scientist has, for the first time, revealed that India’s new Shaurya missile, which can carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead over 750 kilometers, is specially designed to be fired from Indian submarines and could form the crucial third leg of India’s nuclear deterrent.

If launched from a submarine off the China coast, it could hit several Chinese cities like Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai.Air and land-based nuclear weapons are delivered to their targets by fighter aircraft and ballistic missiles, respectively. Since these can be knocked out by an enemy first strike, the most reliable nuclear deterrent has traditionally been underwater, missiles hidden in a submarine.



V K Saraswat, the DRDO chief and Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, revealed to Business Standard at the ongoing Defexpo 2010, “We have designed the Shaurya so that it can be launched from under water as easily as from land. The gas-filled canister that houses the missile fits easily into a submarine. The underwater leg of the nuclear triad needs to be totally reliable and needs a state-of-the-art missile.”

“The Shaurya was developed from ground up as a submarine-capable missile,” confirms Dr Prahlada, the top DRDO scientist responsible for liaising with the military. “Every piece of technology for fitting it in a submarine is already in place.”


A ballistic missile is like a stone being lobbed towards a target. Rockets toss it upwards and towards the target; after the rocket burns out, gravity pulls the missile warhead down towards the target. Buffeted by wind and re-entry forces, accuracy is a problem; and, since the ballistic missile’s path is predictable, shooting it down is relatively easy.

The Shaurya has none of these issues. Its solid-fuel, two-stage rocket accelerates the missile to six times the speed of sound before it reaches an altitude of 40 kilometers (125,000 feet), after which it levels out and cruises towards the target, powered by its onboard fuel.

While ballistic missiles cannot correct their course midway, the Shaurya is an intelligent missile. Onboard navigation computers kick in near the target, guiding the missile to the target and eliminating errors that inevitably creep in during its turbulent journey.

The Shaurya, say DRDO sources, will strike within 20-30 metres of its target after travelling 750 kilometres.

Shaurya surfaces as India’s underwater nuclear missile | idrw.org

Kind of a bold statement to say India's missle tech is more advanced than chinese. Pakistan I can understand...but chinese? I really don't know much about the two programes to have an strong opinion eitherway...

Do Chinese have a MACH 6 cruise missile with 700-1000km range??

Ya i too doubt it, when they say that Indian missile program is technologically more advanced that the Chinese. Can anyone throw some light on it if it is true. No fanboyism please, just objective analysis!

neither does India!

what is Shaurya??

I thought I read it is mach 6 till it reaches 40 kilometers, but then what speed does it cruise after?

I mean does that qualify as a mach 6 hybrid missle or partial mach 6 . just asking

Shourya Missile - Indian Defense Projects Sentinel


The Shourya is comparable to Russia's Iskander missile that can cruise at hypersonic speed of Mach 6 - 7 at a height of 50 km and maneuver to evade ballistic missile defenses. The Iskander-M weighs 4,615 kg and carries a warhead of 710 – 800 kg to a range of 480 km, achieving a CEP of 5 – 7 m.


Shourya's first stage takes the missile to an altitude of 7km. The second stage lofts it further up to 40 kms. The missile then flips over and flies at constant altitude at seven times the speed of sound like a cruise missile.

Shaurya as far as I know, is a BGRV(boost guided reentry vehicle). It is a quasi-ballistic missile, capable of changing its flight path at the terminal end of the trajectory. It cannot be a cruise missile, since it does not breathe air, so does not have a jet engine. It is a solid fuel powered missile that never leaves the atmosphere,so is hard or interception by conventional ABM systems.There are very few true BGRVs in the world, including china (I do not know if china has an operational BGRV).

Shaurya is a quasi ballistic missle no????

A brief look at our space program will tell you that India is capable of delivering such missile systems. While the anti-missile scenario would be totally different.

You can say it is a hybrid. How many Ballistic missiles can fly at a low altitude and have
a CEP of 5. Shaurya is not strictly a cruise missile or a ballistic missile but other versions
K-4,K-15 might be??

Chinese are trying to have a ballistic missile act like a cruise missile with
DF-21 carrier killer but DF21 is strictly a ballistic missile. I doubt their claims
to start and really doubt the CEP and range of their claims.

when it comes to deception indian govt is among the best. shaurya, sagarika and k-15, they play with words and confuse people. they are one and the samething, then they are different missile with same structure etc etc. now they are different missiles with only concept being equal. good work in confusing. from now on my knowledge about the missiles is zero

That would be way to underestimating the Chinese, I think they would definitely come up with such a thing if the requirement props up.