A lot of us have wondered about the Indian missile-naming tradition. Many believed that the Prithvi Missile was named after Prithvi Raj Chauhan, a 12th century Hindu ruler in northern India. It is misleading as other missiles do not have the name of kings. Alternative set of theory is that the Indian convention is to name missiles after the elements. The names Nag and Trishul indicate that it is not. Some came up with the idea that Indian missile naming convention is based on history and culture. But that assumption too is a guess work. So what drives the Indian missile-naming tradition?

The first ever Indian project was the Anti-Tank Missile project of 1960’s. Indians called it the ATM project. Very simple

The second project was “Devil”, the surface to air missile. Its not clear the reason it is called Devil.

It all started with the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program.

“Agni means fire. It derives its name from the intense heat generated due to the kinetic heating upon re-entry. Indian multistage vehicle staging studies project are dated back to 1970’s and 1980’s. This is the time the “Valiant Engine” was tested too.

“Prithvi” means earth. It got the name because it was a surface to surface missile intended for fixed surface targets, initially meant to be used by Indian Army artillery units. Air Force did not mind the name as it had same use of Prithvi as the Army. However whan Navy wanted to have a Prithvi on its ships deck it preferred to change its name to “Dhanush”.

The Surface to Air missile meant to be used against multiple aerial threats was aptly named “Akash”, which means sky.

Another of the Surface to Air missile which was meant for the three defence services was called the “Trishul”, means the Trident.

“Nag” means cobra. Nag missile is a fire and forget Anti-Tank-Top-Attack missile. What gave it the name was its characteristics of being slim and trim and creeps towards the target silently.

Finally, this is most quoted naming convention; Brahmos. Brahmos is named after Indian River Brahmaputra and Russian river Moskva.