The trial of an upgraded interceptor missile conducted by DRDO scientists has failed on Monday. According to DRDO sources, the missile called Advanced Air Defence (AAD), plummeted into the Bay of Bengal a few seconds after the liftoff from Wheeler Island, off the Odisha Coast.
There appeared to be a problem in one of the sub-systems, which malfunctioned, DRDO scientists told The Hindu . The exact cause would be known after analysing the data and it might take 24 hours to come to a preliminary conclusion.
The DRDO planned to conduct the Interceptor missile test against an electronic target missile to validate the missile’s capability to carry a bigger warhead, improved manoeuverability and reduced mis-distance, among other parameters. India plans to deploy a two-tiered Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system to protect important cities and vital installations from external threats.
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The first phase envisages to engage and destroy incoming enemy ballistic missile of 2,000-km range, while the second phase seeks to tackle missiles between 2,000-km and 5,000-km range. With Monday’s mission the DRDO has conducted 10 interceptor missile tests and eight out of them have been successful.