India on Wednesday successfully flight-tested an endo-atmospheric interceptor missile under Phase-II of its two-tier ballistic missile defence (BMD) system, with the defence ministry promptly proclaiming it demonstrated the indigenous capability to defend against hostile nuclear-capable missiles in the 5000-km range class.
In the test, the “target missile” mimicking an enemy’s long-range ballistic missile was first launched from the Dhamra missile launch complex in Odisha at 4.20 pm.
Swiftly “detected” by radars deployed on land and sea, the BMD system then kicked into action to launch the “AD (advanced area defence) endo-atmospheric interceptor missile” from the integrated test at Chandipur at 4.24 pm.
“The interceptor destroyed the target. The flight-test fully met all the trial objectives, validating the complete network-centric warfare weapon system consisting of long-range sensors, low latency communication system and advanced interceptor missiles,” a DRDO official said.
The solid-fuelled, two-stage interceptor missile system is meant for “neutralising many types of enemy ballistic missile threats in the altitude bracket of endo to low exo-atmospheric regions”, he added. Congratulating the DRDO for the successful flight test, defence minister Rajnath Singh said it has again demonstrated the country’s BMD capability.
India, unlike countries like the US, Russia, China and Israel, however still has a long way to go before it can operationally deploy an effective BMD system, with an overlapping network of early-warning and tracking sensors, reliable command and control posts, land and sea-based batteries of advanced interceptor missiles.
Even as the Phase-I of the BMD system, with the interceptor missiles flying at Mach 4.5 supersonic speeds, is yet to be deployed, DRDO had tested a new long-range flexible interceptor missile called AD-1under the Phase-II in November 2022.
Then, DRDO also conducted the maiden flight trial of a sea-based endo-atmospheric interceptor missile from a warship in April last year. Apart from a land-based BMD system, a mobile sea-based version is also required to build an operationally effective missile shield. “Sea-based version gives you distributive capability,” an officer said.
The US, incidentally, has around 50 ship-borne Aegis BMD systems that provide layered air and missile defence against all sorts of missiles, from short-range ones to ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles).
India till now has refrained from sanctioning the full-scale operational deployment of the Phase-1 of the BMD system at any vital location. This could be due to the high costs involved, or even strategic calculations that it may provoke Pakistan to go in for a larger nuclear arsenal and countermeasures to defeat the BMD system, as reported by TOI earlier.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-tests-ballistic-missile-defence-system-to-intercept-5000-km-class-enemy-missiles/articleshow/111996217.cms