Missile defence shield ready: DRDO chief

[Rajaraja Chola]

India has developed a missile defence shield which can be put in place at short notice to protect at least two cities, bringing the country on par with an elite group of few nations.

The shield, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, has been tested successfully and an incoming ballistic missile with the range of up to 2,000 km can be destroyed. The system is to be upgraded to the range of 5,000 km by 2016.

“The ballistic missile defence shield is now mature... We are ready to put phase-I in place and it can be put in very short time,” DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat told PTI in New Delhi in an interview.

He said the shield, as part of phase one of the programme, can be put in place at two places in the country, where the infrastructure is available.

However, the two places have not yet been identified and the selection will be made at the political level.

The DRDO used variants of Prithvi missiles as simulated targets and successfully intercepted missiles in test-firings.

“We have carried out six successful launches and demonstrated the capability for 2,000 km targets... We have demonstrated it in two layers that is endo-atmospheric (inside the Earth’s atmosphere) and exo-atmospheric (outside the Earth’s atmosphere),” Mr. Saraswat said.

He said all the elements such as long-range radars and tracking devices, real-time data-link and mission control system required for the missile system have been “realised” successfully.

Under the phase-II of the project, the premier defence research agency would upgrade the system to handle ballistic missiles with range of 5,000 km. This phase is expected to be ready by 2016.

The system required for phase-II of the project is being developed, he said, adding that for this purpose, ships are being built from where the target missiles would be launched.

The DRDO chief said the phase two of the project is expected to be completed by 2016.

Talking about the advancement of the system, Mr. Saraswat said the missile defence shield has been “automated” to an extent where human intervention would be required only if the mission has to be aborted.

The DRDO chief said the Indian missile defence system is comparable with the U.S. Patriot 3 system, which was successfully used during the 1990 Gulf War against Iraq.

As part of its efforts to protect itself from enemy missiles, India is developing this two-tier BMD which can intercept enemy missiles at altitudes of 80 km and 150 km.

The DRDO is thinking of intercepting the missiles at higher altitudes as it would give it more response time in case the first attempt is a miss and the second layer of the system can be put into action.

The system was first test-fired in November 2006 elevating India into the elite club of countries to have successfully developed an anti-ballistic missile system, after United States, Russia and Israel.
The Hindu : News / National : Missile defence shield ready: DRDO chief

 

[angeldemon_007]

already posted

 

[tvsram1992]

More tests should be done in a real time time mode before inducting and testing at all weathers

 

[Boobytrap]

Rather than protecting the cities, it would be better to place missile batteries very near to pakistan border so that missiles will be taken down as soon as they are erected to be launched..

We can as well place an array of ABM battery along the border..

 

[Omega007]

All these successful tests of BMD is great but the biggest problem is DRDO has so far tested its interceptor missiles only against liquid fuelled BMs which generally has quite lower terminal vellocity than solid fueled BMs like Pakistani Shaheen series and Chinese DF 21 IRBMs.So before deploying the 1st phase BMD in operational service,DRDO should test and validate the AAD and upcoming PDV against solid fuelled Agni 1 MRBMs.Otherwise,during the vital hour we may have to face some nasty surprises.
Just my two cents.

 

[Omega007]

Rather than protecting the cities, it would be better to place missile batteries very near to pakistan border so that missiles will be taken down as soon as they are erected to be launched..

We can as well place an array of ABM battery along the border..

Then your interceptor batteries won't survive for long because they will become primary targets for Pakistani air and artillery strikes and will be taken out in detail,you can rest assured of that..

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

cities should be protected with BMD shields first...
first in north, then slowly in south...

 

[tvsram1992]

Rather than protecting the cities, it would be better to place missile batteries very near to pakistan border so that missiles will be taken down as soon as they are erected to be launched..

We can as well place an array of ABM battery along the border..

Its highly difficult to intercept an ascending missile . Lets hope PDV will have such capability

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

Its highly difficult to intercept an ascending missile . Lets hope PDV will have such capability

I think the ABM can take out missiles in terminal phase.. not in ascending phases...

 

[tvsram1992]

I think the ABM can take out missiles in terminal phase.. not in ascending phases...

Its like you cant intercept missile launched from Pakistan targeting Hyderabad using BMD from Punjab where as you can intercept a missile whose target is delhi . Interception in ascending phase is highly impossible . Missile will have minimum speed at its mid phase . Our AAD is to counter missiles at mid phase ie exo atmospheric . Although missile will slow down a bit at reentry phase . To counter MIRVs we need to come up with PDVs that can intercept missiles at mid phase itself .

 

[Omega007]

Its like you cant intercept missile launched from Pakistan targeting Hyderabad using BMD from Punjab where as you can intercept a missile whose target is delhi . Interception in ascending phase is highly impossible . Missile will have minimum speed at its mid phase . Our AAD is to counter missiles at mid phase ie exo atmospheric . Although missile will slow down a bit at reentry phase . To counter MIRVs we need to come up with PDVs that can intercept missiles at mid phase itself .

It seems to me that you don't have a clear idea wrt our BMD network.
First of all,our BMD is only for terminal interception;not for mid phase interception.And AAD has maximum interception altitude of just 32 km because it's designed to intercept incoming MRBMs at endo atmosphere not in mid phase.
Even the PDV will mostly intercept incoming IRBMs at terminal phase (though at higher altitude).Because it has got maximum interception altitude of 160 km but modern IRBMs have mid phase well over 300 km.
And it's not impossible to intercept BMs into their Boost phase;actually it's the complete opposite.In their boost phase,BMs are most vulnerable due to their slower speed and inability to deploy counter measures.But to intercept BMs at their Boost phase,you need directed energy weapons,either high powered lasers or EMP blast.Both of these systems are currently under development by DRDO.

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

Its like you cant intercept missile launched from Pakistan targeting Hyderabad using BMD from Punjab where as you can intercept a missile whose target is delhi . Interception in ascending phase is highly impossible . Missile will have minimum speed at its mid phase . Our AAD is to counter missiles at mid phase ie exo atmospheric . Although missile will slow down a bit at reentry phase . To counter MIRVs we need to come up with PDVs that can intercept missiles at mid phase itself .

That will be developed in 2nd phase of development at the most...

 

[tvsram1992]

It seems to me that you don't have a clear idea wrt our BMD network.
First of all,our BMD is only for terminal interception;not for mid phase interception.And AAD has maximum interception altitude of just 32 km because it's designed to intercept incoming MRBMs at endo atmosphere not in mid phase.
Even the PDV will mostly intercept incoming IRBMs at terminal phase (though at higher altitude).Because it has got maximum interception altitude of 160 km but modern IRBMs have mid phase well over 300 km.
And it's not impossible to intercept BMs into their Boost phase;actually it's the complete opposite.In their boost phase,BMs are most vulnerable due to their slower speed and inability to deploy counter measures.But to intercept BMs at their Boost phase,you need directed energy weapons,either high powered lasers or EMP blast.Both of these systems are currently under development by DRDO.

When Pakistan attacks New delhi , mid phase will fly over punjab . The same BMD would be intercepting long range missiles at terminal phase . I was speaking about 60-150km ranged missiles which are most likely to be used in war . Our BMD systems AAD,PAD,PDV... will continue upgrades till mid phase interception at exo atmosphere is achieved ie before reentry where no mirv is released .

 

[newdelhinsa]

Now they should put these ABMs on some appropriate naval flotillas.

 

[Supply&Demand]

Most of our missiles including the latest one we just tested is 'stealth'. Good luck...

stealth missile???

lol!!! any link to back that up???