New Delhi, March 06: After the "hat-trick" of
successful trials in its effort to operationalise an
indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield, the DRDO
today said the system would be ready for deployment in the
next three to four years.
"It will take us one or two more trials before our system
is ready to be offered for deployment," DRDO Chief Controller
and Distinguished Scientist W Selvamurthy told agencies here.
"Our last three tests have been quite successful. In the
next trials, we will do a combined test of both the
endo-atmospheric and exo-atmospheric test," he said.
India today successfully tested the 'Prithvi' Air Defence
(PAD) missile for the third time in just over two years. The
interceptor PAD missile, launched from a mobile launcher
placed in the Wheeler Island's Integrated Test Range off
Orissa coast, destroyed the target missile- surface-to-surface
'Dhanush' in this case- at an altitude of 75-km in the sky.
"This combined test will help us assess the joint
functioning of the two-tiered BMD shield that is being
developed," Selvamurthy said.
DRDO's BMD programme is a two-tier system consisting of
two interceptor missiles, namely PAD missile for high altitude
interception at altitudes between 50-80 Km, and the Advanced
Air Defence (AAD) missile for lower altitude interceptions
between 15-30 Kms.
The DRDO had earlier successfully tested the BMD system
in November 2006 outside the atmosphere mode at 48-km altitude
and in December 2007 inside atmosphere at 15-km altitude.
Along with the interceptor missiles, DRDO has also
developed the surveillance systems for the shield. The
ground-based surveillance and tracking systems along with the
command, control and communication systems, can be operated
successfully in highly-dense electronic warfare environment.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, March 06, 2009, 00:00