India successfully test-fires interceptor missile

Balasore (Orissa), July 26 (PTI) In a boost to its
efforts to build an anti-missile system, India Monday
successfully test-fired its indigenously developed
interceptor, capable of destroying incoming hostile ballistic
missile, from the Integrated Test Range off Orissa coast.
Describing the trial as a success, ITR Director S P
Dash told PTI that the target missile was hit with "accuracy
and precision" by the interceptor at an altitude of 15 km.
The trial, carried out from two launch sites of ITR
off the Orissa coast in eastern part of the country, was aimed
at developing a full-fledged multi-layer Ballistic Missile
Defence (BMD) system, defence sources said, adding, "The whole
exercise is to achieve the desired result with precision".
The target missile, a modified surface-to-surface
'Prithvi' was first lifted off from a mobile launcher at 10:05
am from ITR's launch complex-3 at Chandipur-on-sea, 15 km from
here.
A few minutes later, the interceptor Advanced Air
Defence (AAD), positioned at Wheeler Island, about 70 km
across sea from Chandipur, getting signals from radars tracked
and intercepted it mid-air over the sea, the sources said.
The test launch of both target and hit missiles was
successful from their respective test sites besides the
interception, said a defence scientist.
Detailed results, mainly the 'kill' effect of the
interceptor, was being studied through data analysis from
multiple tracking sources, he said soon after both the
missiles roared into the overcast sky. PTI