DRDO's Weapon and Missile Testing Range at Junput in West Bengal Cleared by Suvendu Adhikari

Key facts

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans to set up a new weapons and missile testing range at Junput in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal along the Bay of Bengal.
• The proposed facility is expected to supplement India's existing Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha and expand capacity for weapons trials along the eastern coast.
• DRDO had proposed the testing range along the Purba Medinipur coast in April 2024, but the then Trinamool Congress government did not provide land for the project.
• West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said at an event on Friday that he has approved the project, and a senior DRDO source confirmed the missile testing project is coming up in West Bengal.
• The Junput facility would become another major DRDO testing hub alongside the ITR at Chandipur and a proposed testing facility in Andhra Pradesh.
• India's existing ITR operates through two launch complexes in Odisha, with Launch Complex-III at Chandipur-on-Sea primarily used for trials of short-range tactical missiles, surface-to-air systems and multi-barrel rocket launchers such as Akash and Pinaka.
• Launch Complex-IV, located off the Odisha coast, is used for trials of longer-range strategic systems including the Agni series of ballistic missiles and K-series submarine-launched missiles.
• The proposed Junput range is located around 70 km along the Bay of Bengal from Chandipur and is expected to help share the testing load currently handled by the Odisha facility.