Extended Range Air Defence System

Extended Range Air Defence System (ERADS), is an Indian long-range mobile surface to air missile defence system being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) under Project Kusha. The missile system will be deployed by Indian Air Force.

It will supplement the Indo-Israeli Barak 8, Russian S-400 and Indian Ballistic Missile Defence System in the Indian armed forces.

Development
The missile system might used to bridge the gap between MR-SAM (70 km) and S-400 (400 km). It is being developed as an area-defence system. The Indian Air Force (IAF) will be the lead agency for this air defence system.

The Project was cleared for development by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in May 2022, and was granted Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in September 2023 for procuring five of its squadrons for the IAF for Rs 21,700 crore.

Design
The missile system includes two types of interceptor missiles. The missiles will have ranges of 150 km (ER-SAM) and 350 km (XR-SAM). This system will also feature advanced long-range surveillance and fire control radars. The air defence system will be capable of detecting and destroying enemy assets like cruise missiles, stealth fighter jets, and drones at around 250 km range and larger aircraft like airborne early warning and control (AEW&CS) at a range of 350 km. It will have a single-shot kill probability more than 80% and not less than 90% probability in salvo launch mode.

The missile batteries will be able to “interact” with the IAF’s integrated air command and control system (IACCS). It is a fully-automated air defence network operated by IAF which will be built to combine numerous military and civilian radars with each other in Indian airspace to make the air defence system more efficient and reliable.

Operators

 * — 5 Squadrons to be deployed
 * — 5 Squadrons to be deployed