On July 23, 2026, DRDO successfully conducted the maiden test of the Kusha M1, a long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM), from a test range in India. Kusha is designed to intercept aerial threats including fighter jets, cruise missiles, and drones at extended ranges. Developed indigenously under Project Kusha, it is intended to replace the ageing Akash missile system and strengthen India's layered air-defence architecture alongside S-400 Triumf batteries already inducted.

Project Kusha represents India's ambition to close the gap between short-to-medium range air defence (Akash system, 25–30 km range) and the long-range S-400 Triumf procured from Russia. The Kusha LR-SAM is designed to engage targets at ranges reportedly up to 150 km and altitudes above 20 km, placing it in the same class as Western systems like the Patriot PAC-3.

Strategically, the test matters for several reasons. First, it reduces dependence on Russian platforms at a time when the S-400 deal itself attracted US CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) scrutiny. Second, India's two-front threat calculus — Pakistan to the west and China to the north — demands layered air-defence that is domestically supported and not vulnerable to third-party supply disruptions. Third, Kusha advances DRDO's dual mandate of import substitution and export potential under the 'Make in India' defence push.

For UPSC purposes, the examiner is less interested in the missile's speed or warhead than in the systemic context: DRDO's role, India's air-defence layering, relevant treaties (Missile Technology Control Regime membership since 2016), and how indigenisation fits the broader defence export target of ₹50,000 crore by 2028–29. Understanding where Kusha sits in India's existing inventory — alongside Akash, Barak-8 (naval), and S-400 — is the testable static hinterland.