New Delhi: India has successfully conducted the first flight test of an endo-atmospheric interceptor missile from a ship off the coast of Odisha in the Bay of Bengal as part of its ambitious ballistic missile defense programme. The defense ministry said Friday’s test of a sea-based missile was aimed at containing and neutralizing a hostile ballistic missile threat, catapulting India into an elite club of countries with such a capability.
BMDs are capable of intercepting incoming long-range nuclear missiles and hostile aircraft including AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System).
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the Indian Navy and the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) for the successful demonstration of the capabilities of the ship-based Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system.
“DRDO and the Indian Navy successfully conducted the maiden flight test of sea-based endo-atmospheric interceptor missile off the coast of Odisha in the Bay of Bengal on April 21,” the ministry said in a statement.
It added that DRDO has already successfully demonstrated the capabilities of the land-based BMD system to neutralize emerging ballistic missile threats from adversaries.
“The objective of the test was to contain and neutralize a hostile ballistic missile threat, thereby catapulting India into the elite club of nations with naval BMD capability.”
India is developing the capability to intercept hostile ballistic missiles inside and outside the Earth’s atmospheric boundaries.
Endo-atmospheric missiles are those that operate within the Earth’s atmosphere covering an altitude of less than 100 km. According to experts, exo-atmospheric missiles are capable of carrying out missions in the uppermost region of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The range of the missile defense system tested on Friday is not yet known.
In November, India successfully conducted the first flight-test of the Phase-II ballistic missile defense interceptor AD-1, which is capable of intercepting several different types of targets.