DRDO tests long-range interceptor missile

NEW DELHI:  India plugs the gaps in its security umbrella against the ballistic missile attacks with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducting a successful maiden flight-test on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Defence announced that Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor AD-1 missile with large kill altitude bracket was successful and the test was conducted from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Defence said, “The AD-1 is a long-range interceptor missile designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long-range ballistic missiles as well as aircraft.”
“The flight test was carried out with participation of all BMD weapon system elements located at different geographical locations, added the MoD.

During the flight-test, all the sub-systems performed as per expectations and were validated by the data captured by a number of range sensors including Radar, Telemetry and Electro Optical Tracking stations deployed to capture the flight data.

Defence Analyst A. Vinod Kumar calls it an important step in plugging the gaps against the missiles and those mainly from China. The first test in 2014 was a failure with a partial success achieved during the test conducted in 2017.          

“This is an attempt to strike down longer range and faster missiles of China which should be intercepted into outer space before re-entry into our space. It has to be as far out as possible as will be nuclear tipped missiles. We so far had endo Atmospheric Prithvi and Advance Air Defence System. This might be using the Agni Platforms to achieve long range interception,” added Vinod.

Exo-atmospheric is beyond 100kms altitude and the missiles able to bring down the missile at lesser altitude are called the endo-atmospheric. The AD-1 test missile is propelled by a two-stage solid motor and equipped with indigenously-developed advanced control system, navigation and guidance algorithm to precisely guide the vehicle to the target.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO and other teams associated with successful flight trial of AD-1. He termed it as a unique type of interceptor with advanced technologies available with a very few nations in the world. He exuded confidence that it will further strengthen the country’s BMD capability to the next level.

Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO Dr Samir V Kamat congratulated his team on the successful trial, stating that this interceptor will provide great operational flexibility to the users and having capability to engage many different types of targets.

Mission successful

•   The AD-1 is a long-range interceptor missile designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long-range ballistic missiles as well as aircraft
•   The Ministry of Defence announced that Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor AD-1 missile with large kill altitude bracket was successful
•   The test was conducted from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha on Wednesday
•   The flight test was carried out with participation of all BMD weapon system elements located at different geographical locations