Bhubaneswar: India on Thursday successfully test-fired twice a medium-range surface-to-air ballistic missile, developed jointly with Israel, off the coast of Odisha, officials said.
The missile, having a strike range of 70 km, is designed to defend against any airborne threat, apart from aircraft and helicopters, and can also intercept supersonic aircraft and missiles.
The missile has been jointly developed by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Israel Aerospace Industries and Israel's Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure.
The missile was fired for its maiden testing from launch pad 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea in Balasore district at 8.16 a.m.
The second test carried out at 3.45 p.m. hit the target in a different envelope at low altitude.
An official statement said the test met the mission requirements.
"The MRSAM system provides reliable air defence at medium ranges," the statement said.
The missile is guided by a radar system and on-board avionics which can successfully hit a pilotless target aircraft.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar tweeted: "I congratulate DRDO India and industry teams for the successful flight test of MRSAM (Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile) weapon system."
According to informed sources, the missile is a version of the Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM) Barak-8 and is yet to get a name.
It is being developed for the Indian Air Force.
The statement said many Indian industries like Bharat Electronics Limited, Larsen & Toubro Limited, Bharat Dynamics Limited, Tata Group of companies besides other private industries contributed to the development of a number of sub-systems used in the flight test.
The system also includes a multi-functional surveillance and threat alert radar for tracking, detection and guidance of the missile.
As a precaution, authorities had evacuated villagers living in a radius of one to 2.5 km around the launch complex.
In December last year, the LRSAM also co-developed with Israel was test fired from naval ship INS Kolkata.
The missile fired along the western seaboard successfully intercepted an aerial target at extended ranges.
