India's Ballistic Missile Defence capability received a boost on Sunday with the successful launch of an upgraded version of the interceptor missile against an electronically simulated target missile over the Bay of Bengal.
The anti-ballistic missile, called AAD ( Advanced Air Defence), took off at 9.40 a.m. from the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Wheeler Island soon after it received the command to waylay and destroy an incoming target missile in the endo-atmosphere (below 40 km altitude) after the conditions for the latter were electronically simulated without the actual launch of the missile.
Conditions similar to the launch of a target missile from Balasore were simulated electronically and upon receiving its coordinates, the interceptor missile, travelling at supersonic speed, engaged and destroyed the "virtual target" in mid-flight.
India plans to deploy a two-tiered Ballistic Missile Defence system to protect important cities and vital installations from enemy attack. The first phase seeks to destroy incoming enemy missiles of 2,000 km range, while the second phase envisages killing incoming missiles of more than 2,000 km.
With Sunday's mission, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has conducted 11 interceptor missile tests. While eight of the missions were in endo-atmosphere, the remaining were in exo-atmosphere. Nine of the missions had been successful.
