NEW DELHI: Upset at a former Chief of the Naval Staff being named by the Central Bureau of Information in the first information report on alleged irregularities in the Barak missile deal, the naval top brass plan to take up the issue with the Prime Minister later this week.

The Navy believes that the Barak missile destroying systems are the best available in the global market and with no indigenous solution in sight, it took the correct option of recommending the induction of the Israeli system and missile in warships. It is "unfair" to involve Admiral Sushil Kumar in the alleged payment of commission to civilians.

The Navy chief, Admiral Arun Prakash said the Barak system was "very good and incomparable." "The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We will use them [the system] against low flying missiles. I don't think there is anything comparable today in any Navy," he told newsmen here.

The naming of Admiral Kumar in the FIR "was a matter of concern and we have to look into it."

Another naval officer said the Barak missile had a hit probability of 0.9 or 90 per cent. The "best-ever" missile would have a hit rate of .94. In comparison, the Trishul, indigenous answer to Barak, had a success rate of 15 out of 20 when it was tested for a second time between 2003 and this year.

The Navy tested the Barak 14 times and scored 12 hits. The two failures were caused not due to shortcomings in the missiles but by human error on one occasion and failure of associated support systems on the other. "If there are any better systems, we have not heard of them," said the officer.

The acquisition of Barak was put on the fast track after the Kargil war as Pakistan had acquired ship-destroying missiles.

The Barak could lock on to an incoming missile and destroy it at considerable distance from the ship. India began concept work on such a missile in 1984 after a British warship was sunk during the Falklands War with Argentina two years earlier, killing about 300 sailors.

However, the Trishul continued to be plagued by shortcomings, leading to the import of the Barak systems for fitment on ships, which were especially altered to accommodate anti-missile systems.

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