In another successful trial, India’s indigenously-developed interceptor missile destroyed a “hostile” target ballistic missile — a modified Prithvi — at an altitude of 16 km over the Bay of Bengal on Sunday.
The surface-to-surface Prithvi was lifted off from a mobile launcher around 9.33 am at Chandipur, 15 km from Orissa. In less than three minutes, the interceptor - an advanced air defence (AAD) missile positioned at Wheeler Island, about 70 km across the sea from Chandipur — received signals from radars installed along the coastline and travelled at a speed of 4.5 Mach to destroy it.
Chandipur launch complex director SP Dash said: “It was a fantastic launch. The trial, conducted from two launch sites of the integrated test range off the Orissa coast to develop a full-fledged, multi-layer ballistic missile defence system, was fully successful.”
It was a copybook launch and all events and mission sequence took place as expected, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
AAD was a single-stage supersonic missile. The interceptor had its own mobile launcher, secure data link, independent tracking and homing capabilities and sophisticated radars.
DRDO has so far carried out its six trials, of which four have been successful.
—With agency inputs
