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| India-Pakistan |
| Third successful test of Indian ballistic missile interceptor |
| 2009-03-06 |
| India today inched closer towards its endeavour to put in place its own home-grown Ballistic Missile Defence System as it successfully carried out the third Interceptor test today at 1624 hrs from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island in Orissa. The mission control room burst into raptures as the radar display indicated the interception and destruction of the decoy enemy missile by the interceptor. TodayÂ’s test achieved all the mission objectives. The two-stage Interceptor Missile fitted with advanced systems hit the target enemy missile at 75 kms altitude. To mimic the incoming enemyÂ’s ballistic missile trajectory, Dhanush missile went to an altitude of 120 Km and was launched from ship about 100 km away from the Orissa Coast. The Interceptor missile was launched from a mobile launcher located on Wheeler Island Launch Complex. The third consecutive interception of Ballistic Missiles once again demonstrated the robustness of the Indian Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system. The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) have already conducted two interception trials, first in Exo-atmospheric region at 48 Kms altitude on 27th November 06 and second in endo-atmospheric region at 15 kms using Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile on 06 Dec 07. The missile interception trial was witnessed by the DRDO Chief Shri M Natarajan, Air Defence Programme Director Dr VK Saraswat, senior Scientists from DRDO, senior officers from Armed Forces and Government officials. The Defence Minister Shri A K Antony has congratulated the scientific community of DRDO for the third consecutive success in achieving Ballistic Missile Defence capability. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #1 The interceptor used for the first time a manoeuvrable warhead called gimballed directional warhead (GDW), which can rotate 360 degrees. As the single-stage Dhanush, 9.4 metres tall and weighing 4.5 tonnes, lifted off at 4.17 p.m. from the ship located 150 km away from the Wheeler Island, radars at Konark and Paradip in Orissa tracked it 50 seconds into its flight. The Mission Control Centre (the MCC) on the island also received information about it. The MCC declared it a hostile target and that it would impact very close to the island. This data was used by the Launch Control Centre (LCC) to compute the trajectory of the interceptor, called Prithvi Air Defence (PAD II), to engage the target missile at an altitude of 80 km. The LCC also automatically decided when the interceptor should lift off and the launch computer gave the command for it. About 160 seconds into the flight of Dhanush plus 150 seconds after the lift-off of the interceptor, the interceptor’s homing seeker acquired the target. Using this information, the interceptor’s computer guided it towards the target and brought it very close to it. At this point of time, the radio proximity fuse (RPF) of the GDW computed the time at which it should explode. Dr. Saraswat, who is also Chief Controller, DRDO, said: “When the target and the interceptor were practically colliding with each other, the warhead was detonated which led to the fragmentation of the target and the interceptor. It was a direct hit and also warhead detonation. The large number of fragments formed due to collision and detonation were tracked by the ground radars and we could see that hundreds of new tracks had been formed, confirming that the target was destroyed in both a direct hit and detonation.” He praised the young scientists of the DRDO’s missile complex at Hyderabad and other DRDO laboratories for the mission’s success. “It was one of the most complex missions planned, designed and executed by the DRDO with clock-work precision. I feel satisfied that the BMD shield of the DRDO has reached a great level of maturity.” The interceptor was a two-stage vehicle, with the first stage fuelled by liquid propellants and the second stage by solid propellants. It was 10 metres long and weighed 5.2 tonnes. |
| Posted by: john frum 2009-03-06 14:57 |