‘We are ahead of Chinese in missile programme’

February 11, 2010 11:17 am | Updated November 17, 2021 07:19 am IST - New Delhi

A tableaux of BrahMos Naval System being displayed during the 2009 Republic Day Parade.

A tableaux of BrahMos Naval System being displayed during the 2009 Republic Day Parade.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Director V.K. Saraswat on Wednesday said that India's anti-ballistic missile defence programme is ahead of China's programme.

Mr. Saraswat said the country is also gearing to test its indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield in near future, a programme, he claimed, is more sophisticated than the Chinese one.

“This is one area where we are senior to China,” he said when asked to compare Indian BMD programme with that of China, which carried out its first test-firing on January 14.

He said the Indian programme had started in 2006 and had 60-70 per cent indigenous content in it.

Dr. Saraswat said Indian BMD development programme would have two phases.

"In the first phase, which goes upto 2,000 km range, we will carry out exo-atmospheric, endo-atmospheric and high altitude interceptions and in the second phase, we will take care of targets beyond 5,000 km range."

On the dates of test of the BMD shield, he said it was expected to be carried out within this month.

He was addressing a press conference on the recent test firing of Agni-III missile, which has strike range of 3500 k.m. and is now ready for induction in the armed forces.

Nirbhay

India has completed the propulsion system design of its new cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’ which will have a strike range of 800 kms, Dr. Saraswat has said.

“The development of the system is on. We have completed the propulsion system’s design. But we have not integrated it. Once we reach the integration stage, we will show it you,” he told reporters here last night.

Dr. Saraswat said the missile is a technology demonstrator.

India already has in its arsenal ‘BrahMos’, a 300-k.m. range cruise missile developed in collaboration with Russia. It has various versions for use by all the three wings of the armed forces.

Dr. Saraswat announced that Sunday's test of the Agni- III missile would clear the decks for the induction of the missile into the services.

The test, carried out by Strategic Forces Command sets the stage for the induction of nuclear-tipped missile.

China had only one missile in the 2500-km category, the DF-21 and was now focused only on building intercontinental range missiles (ICBMs) of the DF-31 and DF-41 in the 6000- 10,000 km range.

"But our accuracies are better than the Chinese missiles," Dr. Saraswat said.

China, in January 2007, had displayed its anti-ballistic missile capabilities while knocking out a disused satellite in space. This was the world's first declared A-SAT test.

Earlier in January, the Chinese declared that they had successfully tested a ground-based mid-range anti ballistic missile.

"China only had the building blocks for an ATBM," Dr. Saraswat said.

"We started our ATBM programme in 1999 and in terms of capabilities, we are way ahead of them," he added.

Dr. Saraswat said India had perfected the building blocks for an A-SAT weapon but there were no plans to field any such system.

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