A fresh airspace notice has marked DRDO's new Junput range in West Bengal for missile-test activity, a step meant to ease pressure on Odisha's crowded Chandipur facility.

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• A new Notice to Airmen covers missile-test activity over the Bay of Bengal from October 6 to October 9, 2026, centred on DRDO's Junput range.
• The Junput range is located in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur district, close to Digha beach, on the Bay of Bengal coast.
• If a test went ahead, it would be the first disclosed missile-test window at Junput since the project moved from construction into operational use.
• DRDO proposed the facility in April 2024 because the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha, was handling a very high volume of trials.
• The project had been stalled for years by land clearance issues, local unrest and administrative hurdles, and an earlier state government had not provided land.
• West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari approved DRDO's proposal in September 2026, reviving the long-pending range.
• Junput lies about 70 km from Chandipur along the coast and roughly 177 km from Kolkata.
• It is described as the third major DRDO test hub, after the Chandipur sites in Odisha and a proposed testing centre in Andhra Pradesh.
• Defence reporting says Chandipur will keep handling long-range and strategic trials, while Junput is expected to absorb short-range and radar-related testing.
• During tests, residents within a one-kilometre radius would be evacuated, with provisions for compensation and safe shelter.
• The specific missile systems to be tested at Junput have not been publicly disclosed.

Tags: DRDO, JunputMissileRange, ChandipurITR