India's Missile Testing Infrastructure: A Capacity Conundrum

India's Missile Testing Infrastructure: A Capacity Conundrum\n\nIndia's burgeoning missile development programme is facing a significant challenge: its capacity to test new systems has not kept pace with its ability to field them. The Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha is the primary focal point for missile trials, but it is struggling to cope with the increasing demand.\n\nThe issue is evident in the Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) attempts to establish additional test facilities. The government has been pressing ahead with its own additional facilities at Nagayalanka in Andhra Pradesh and Junput in West Bengal. However, progress is slow due to local unrest and land acquisition issues, straining India's missile testing infrastructure and exacerbating the capacity deficit.\n\nRecent DRDO tests conducted from the ITR include the VSHORADS in February 2024, ITCM in April 2024, Agni-4 in September 2024, VL-SRSAM in September 2024, and the LRLACM in November 2024. The scale of the work at Chandipur is an indicator of the pressure on the existing infrastructure.\n\nIn April 2024, DRDO confirmed that it was establishing a test centre at Junput in West Bengal since Chandipur was now overwhelmed with testing work. The facility was to provide another operating area along the Bay of Bengal. However, a 2024 Rajya Sabha response showed that while land acquisition and the laying of hard-standing areas and roads at Junput had been completed, work had temporarily paused due to local unrest.\n\nThe government described the site as useful for testing missiles of 'very high importance'. In a February 2013 Rajya Sabha reply, the Defence Ministry stated that DRDO had proposed missile ranges at Nagayalanka in Andhra Pradesh, and Rutland Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Both projects were at this point in their preliminary planning, with land acquisition underway.\n\nNagayalanka eventually got CCS approval in October 2024, whereupon the government pegged the cost of the new missile test range at around ₹1,460 crore. The facility is to feature a launch centre and technical instrumentation, indigenous radars, telemetry, and electro-optical systems.\n\nThe range has an important strategic role beyond just providing another launch pad. DRDO documentation reported in 2024 that the existing Chandipur and Wheeler Island ranges could not adequately support Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence interceptor testing, requiring test infrastructure to be positioned at separate points along the missile trajectory.\n\nThe government's Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS) also recognises testing capacity as a constraint. Launched in May 2020 with an outlay of ₹400 crore, the scheme was expressly designed to create state-of-the-art defence testing infrastructure, with the Defence Production Department identifying the lack of accessible testing infrastructure as a major impediment to domestic defence production.\n\nDTIS primarily targets specialised testing requirements, such as UAS, ammunition, mechanical, and materials, and electromagnetic compatibility testing. It does not by itself address the separate issue of large-scale missile flight-test corridors and launch ranges.\n\nAs India's missile portfolio expands across the gamut of air defence, anti-tank, cruise, ballistic, and strategic systems, range availability becomes part of the development cycle itself. The creation of Nagayalanka and Junput demonstrates that the government sees the problem. But the timelines also show just how difficult it can be to convert an identified requirement into operational testing capacity.\n\nIn conclusion, India's missile testing infrastructure is facing a capacity crisis, which is hindering the country's ability to develop and test new missile systems. The government is working to address this issue, but the challenges are significant, and it will likely take time to resolve them.