In what was stated by Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri Dr V K Saraswat as “a major milestone in the history of India’s Ballistic Missile Defence Programme”, the Interceptor Missile was successfully flight tested off the coast of Orissa on 06 March, 2011. With a missile tracking network consisting of long range multi function radars and other range sensors positioned at different locations to detect and identify the incoming missile threat, a Target Missile depicting the enemy’s ballistic missile was launched from Launch Complex -III, ITR, Chandipur at 0932 hours. The interceptor missile at Wheeler Island with a directional warhead was fully ready to take off.
The radars tracking the ballistic missile constructed its trajectory and continuous complex computations were done in real time by a ground guidance computer to launch the interceptor at an exact time, 0937 hours. The fully automatic launch computer launched the interceptor missile, whose onboard INS (Inertial Navigation System) and ground based radars guided it to the incoming target ballistic missile, which was blasted to pieces at an altitude of 16 km. Dr Saraswat congratulated all the Defence Research and Development Organisation scientists and staff for the well-coordinated test launch operation witnessed by many senior scientists and the Integrated Defence Staff team. The success of this test is a major achievement leading towards deployment.
