Indigenous missile development is central to Aatmanirbharta in defence. Evaluate its achievements and the bottlenecks that remain.

India's missile programme has grown from the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) era to the quasi-ballistic Pralay. Pralay cleared another user evaluation trial on 5 November 2026, and induction is called "imminent" [1]. Self-reliance in missile technology is real, but slow timelines still blunt it.

Achievements

• Technological maturity: Pralay is a solid-propellant quasi-ballistic missile. It flies a low path and can manoeuvre, which makes it harder to intercept. Trials validated both its maximum and minimum range [3].
• Operational reliability: Two missiles were fired in a salvo from one launcher in December 2025 and met all flight objectives [4].
• Lab-to-industry linkage: RCI Hyderabad designs the missile. Bharat Dynamics Ltd is a Development-cum-Production Partner (DcPP), so it is involved from the start and can begin production sooner [1].
• Strategic autonomy: A home-built conventional tactical missile [2] lets India respond below the nuclear threshold without depending on foreign suppliers who may deny technology.

Bottlenecks that remain

• Chronic delays: CAG found 119 of 178 DRDO projects missed their original timelines [6]. The Standing Committee on Defence (2023) found 23 of 55 projects running late [5]. Pralay flew first in 2021 [2], and induction was promised "in near future" in 2025 [3]. It is still pending.
• Process weaknesses: DRDO says projects slip because of unexpected technical complexity, technology denial and rising equipment prices. The Committee warned that review mechanisms themselves may add delay [5].
• Funding squeeze: R&D allocations have been lower than DRDO sought [5]. A quarter of the R&D budget is earmarked for industry, start-ups and academia, and overall defence spending stays below 3% of GDP [6]. This squeezes DRDO's own labs.
• Weak jointness: Both the Army and the IAF are Pralay users [4]. Separate procurement and command for one weapon risks duplicated cost and slower decisions.
• Signalling ambiguity: Official wording on carrying "multiple types of warheads" [4] could be misread by adversaries during a crisis.

Verdict: Indigenous missile development has given India credible, reliable strike capability. The main constraint is now time, not technology. Several steps would help:

• Freeze Qualitative Requirements (the Forces' specification for the weapon) early.
• Hold expert-led, standardised reviews, as the Standing Committee urged [5].
• Give Parliament dated induction plans.
• Raise R&D steadily towards about 10% of the defence budget [6].

These steps would turn "imminent" into "inducted" and make Aatmanirbhar Bharat in defence real.