BALASORE(ORISSA): India’s plan of having a robust Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) umbrella got a big thrust on Friday with the supersonic AAD interceptor missile successfully ‘killing’ an incoming ballistic missile at an altitude of nearly 15 km over the Bay of Bengal.
The missile was for the first time launched in deliverable user configuration and full deployment mode. The interceptor missile, codenamed AAD-05, was test-fired from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast nearly four minutes after a modified version of ‘Prithvi’, mimicking the target missile, was launched from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.
Scientific adviser to the Defence Minister and DRDO chief V K Saraswat said the onboard radio frequency seeker identified the target missile and guided the interceptor to it. “It is one of the finest missions,” he said. With this, India joined a select group of countries such as the US, Russia and Israel, who have these ballistic missile defence capabilities.
Describing the mission, he said radars at different locations tracked the incoming missile while guidance computers continuously computed the trajectory of the ballistic missile and launched the interceptor at the precisely calculated time.