UPSC Prelims 2026 Q60: Mission Sudarshan Chakra — Explained

Consider the following statements about Mission Sudarshan Chakra of India:

1. It aims to enhance India's air defence, ballistic missile defence and aerial offensive capabilities.

2. This Mission is being designed to enhance rapid, precise, and powerful defence responses, reinforcing India's strategic autonomy.

3. One of the aims of this Mission is to cover all public places of India by an expanded nationwide security shield by 2035.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1, 2 and 3
  2. 1 and 2 only
  3. 2 and 3 only
  4. 1 only

Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 3

Statement-wise explanation

  • 1: correct — PM Modi announced Mission Sudarshan Chakra from the Red Fort on 15 August 2025, India's 79th Independence Day. PIB described it as aimed at "neutralising enemy defence infiltrations and enhancing India's offensive capabilities". Government sources call it a multi-layered integrated air and missile defence system against ballistic missiles, aircraft, drones and hypersonic weapons. So it covers air defence, ballistic missile defence and offensive capability, even though the name suggests only a shield.
  • 2: correct — This statement repeats PIB's own wording almost exactly. PIB said the initiative "is designed to enhance rapid, precise, and powerful defence responses, reinforcing India's strategic autonomy". One of the mission's three stated goals is that the whole system is researched, developed and manufactured in India. That indigenous base is what supports the strategic-autonomy claim.
  • 3: correct — In the 2025 Independence Day speech, the PM said that by 2035 all important places of the nation, both strategic and civilian, will get complete security cover through new technology platforms. He named hospitals, railways and centres of faith. PIB's summary said: "All public places will be covered by an expanded nationwide security shield by 2035." The word "all" comes from the official text, so it does not make the statement wrong.

How to eliminate

Statement 2 is vague, positive wording that matches how the government describes any flagship defence mission, so it is very likely true. That removes the option with statement 1 alone. After that you must decide on statements 1 and 3, and both are built to look wrong. Statement 1 adds 'aerial offensive' to a mission that sounds purely defensive. Statement 3 uses the absolute word 'all' and a fixed year. The usual rule of rejecting extreme words fails here, because both phrases come straight from official sources. Facts to remember: the mission was announced on 15 August 2025; it has both a defensive and an offensive side; and its target is a nationwide shield over strategic and civilian or public places by 2035. Lesson: when a question is built from one PIB release, statements that copy the release closely are usually all true, even if one contains words like 'all' or 'only'.

Know more

Mission Sudarshan Chakra is India's planned national shield. It is a networked, multi-layered system that links surveillance, cyber protection and air and missile defence. Its aim is to detect, track and destroy incoming threats: ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, drones and hypersonic weapons. It is named after the discus weapon of Lord Krishna.

Three stated goals (August 2025):

  1. The whole system is researched, developed and manufactured in India (Atmanirbhar Bharat).
  2. Predictive technology to anticipate future warfare scenarios.
  3. Precise, targeted systems for counter-action, which is the offensive side.

Why 'multi-layered'? No single interceptor can handle every threat. Long-range layers take on ballistic missiles high in the sky. Medium and short-range layers deal with aircraft and cruise missiles. Very short-range guns, missiles and lasers handle drones near the target. Having several layers also makes it harder for an enemy to swamp the defences with a large salvo, known as a saturation attack.

DRDO building blocks:

System Role
Ballistic Missile Defence (Phase-II) Intercepts long-range ballistic missiles
QRSAM Quick-reaction surface-to-air missile for mobile units
VSHORADS (developed by RCI) Man-portable, very short-range air defence
Laser Directed Energy Weapon (developed by CHESS) Destroys drones at low cost per shot
IADWS QRSAM + VSHORADS + laser, linked by one command centre (DRDL)

On 23 August 2025, DRDO carried out the maiden flight tests of the Integrated Air Defence Weapon System (IADWS) off the Odisha coast. In those tests it destroyed two high-speed fixed-wing UAV targets and a multi-copter drone at the same time. This was the first public demonstration of the layered approach after the mission was announced. The Defence Minister later said DRDO would equip critical installations with air defence under the initiative over the next decade.

In the news

The PM announced Mission Sudarshan Chakra in his 79th Independence Day speech on 15 August 2025, a few months after Operation Sindoor. DRDO's IADWS test on 23 August 2025 and the Defence Minister's DRDO Day remarks on 1 January 2026 kept it in the news before the May 2026 Prelims. The statements closely follow PIB's August 2025 write-ups of the speech.

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