The Hindu : National : "New air defence capability a milestone"

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Wednesday, Nov 29, 2006
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National

"New air defence capability a milestone"

T.S. Subramanian

CHENNAI: The demonstration on Monday of India's capability of air defence against ballistic missiles, with one Prithvi-II intercepting and destroying another, is "a milestone," according to Avinash Chander, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), Hyderabad.

"For the first time, we have been able to develop a system which can intercept a missile in mid-flight in the atmospheric region," he said.

The ASL is credited with developing the Agni-II and Agni-I missiles.

On Monday, a Prithvi-II missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) took off from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea, Orissa, and it was intercepted and destroyed in mid-flight by another Prithvi missile, which took off a few seconds later from the Wheeler Island, also off the Orissa coast.

The two launch stations are situated about 70 km apart. The interception took place at an altitude of 50 km above the Bay of Bengal.

Supersonic

Mr. Chander said the two missiles were supersonic and highly manoeuvrable. "All Prithvi missiles are supersonic," he added. Both were launched from mobile launchers.

"This is the first time in which the ground systems and network were integrated and proven," he said.

According to authoritative DRDO sources, the mission's success had "vast implications." They said, "We have credible deterrence against the Ghauri and Hatf series of missiles of Pakistan. "Further trials will have to be done," they added.

The sources stressed, "This is the first experiment we have done. We have a long way to go."

Pakistan's missiles

Pakistan has in its armoury Hatf 1, Hatf 1A, Abdali (Hatf 2), Ghaznavi (Hatf 3), Shaheen I (Hatf 4), and Ghauri (Hatf 5) missiles.

Ghauri has a range of 1,000 km and it was bought from North Korea.

Prithvi-II is a surface-to-surface tactical battlefield missile. It has two stages.

Prithvi series

It can be used both by the Army and the Air Force. It has a range of 250 km and can carry warheads weighing up to 500 kg. Other Prithvi series include Prithvi-I, Dhanush and Prithvi-III.

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