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| India to develop high speed interceptors | | | Visakhapatnam | Jan 7
After demonstrating capabilities in missile defence, India aims at developing long-range, high speed interceptors that can strike down missiles fired from deep within the enemy territory.
"We are now going to build AD-1 and AD-2 -- high speed interceptors for engaging 5000 km class targets," V K Saraswat, Project Director, Air Defence wing in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) told reporters here.
These systems are essential to shoot down enemy missiles launched from locations from deep inside hostile territory.
"Currently, we have capabilities to defend ourselves from 2500 km range ballistic missiles. But suppose missiles are launched by our immediate neigbours from their rear formations, they will be using long-range missiles -- Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles and Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles.
"We should now develop technologies to defend against them. That is our effort," he said.
Defence scientists have already demonstrated the capability to shoot down enemy missiles at an altitude of 50 kms as also 15 kms.
In November 2006, DRDO scientists tested an exo-atmospheric anti-missile system that could intercept targets 50-km above the atmosphere while last month it fired supersonic interceptors that shot down enemy rockets 15-km within the atmosphere known as the endo-atmospheric zone.
DRDO looks forward to conducting an integrated test trial of interceptor missile and sub-systems in this June.
India aims at having its own two-layered Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system to cope with both threats from ballistic missiles as well as terrain-hugging cruise missile by 2010.
Saraswat said the BMD will have a response time of three to four minute from the detection of an enemy missile.
He said India needed a missile defence shield it had a no first-use policy as far as nuclear weapons were concerned.
The BMD, backed by a string of coastline radars and high-end monitoring systems, would make it almost impossible for hostile aircraft to enter Indian airspace. |
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