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2009-03-07 India-Pakistan
India successfully tests missile interceptor
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Posted by Fred 2009-03-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ]  Top

#1 

Interceptor missile being launched from the Wheeler Island on Friday.
Posted by john frum 2009-03-07 08:16||   2009-03-07 08:16|| Front Page Top

#2 The interception took place at an altitude of 80 km over the Bay of Bengal. The Dhanush missile was destroyed in its path in both a direct-hit and detonation of the warhead of the interceptor, which is an advanced Prithvi missile.

Dhanush was simulating the trajectory of ballistic missiles with a range of 1,500 km, similar to Pakistan’s Ghauri.

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.”

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 2009-03-07 08:18||   2009-03-07 08:18|| Front Page Top

#3 The club for countries that can intercepts missiles is a small one. The US, Russia, India ... who else?
Posted by Steve White 2009-03-07 10:26||   2009-03-07 10:26|| Front Page Top

#4 Not Pakistan, not Iran, not North Korea. :)
Posted by Darrell 2009-03-07 10:28||   2009-03-07 10:28|| Front Page Top

#5 Israel (with substantial US assistance).

The "Swordfish" tracking radar the Indians are using for this is based on the "Green Pine" that they bought from Israel (used in the Israeli Arrow ABM system).

That the Indians are quite serious about this can be seen from the budgetary outlays. They have spent more on the ABM program than they spent on the IGP (the Pritvi SRBM, Agni MRBM, Akash SAM, Nag ATGM and Trishul SAM missile families).
Posted by john frum 2009-03-07 10:53||   2009-03-07 10:53|| Front Page Top

#6 Not Poland.
Posted by Lonzo Wheater5007 2009-03-07 13:30||   2009-03-07 13:30|| Front Page Top

#7 The interceptor was a two-stage vehicle, with the first stage fuelled by liquid propellants and the second stage by solid propellants.

Does a liquid fueled first stage mean it has to be fueled just before launch?
Posted by SteveS 2009-03-07 18:46||   2009-03-07 18:46|| Front Page Top

#8 They have a lot of cheap Prithvi missile motors usable for testing (both as PAD interceptor and Dhanush target).

The Indian Government has just cancelled the production run for Prithvis. They're shifting production to solid fuelled Agnis and Shauryas.

That PAD first stage will be replaced by a solid motor for the deployed system.
Posted by john frum 2009-03-07 19:46||   2009-03-07 19:46|| Front Page Top

#9 This is the target missile they're using to simulate a 1500 km range Ghauri/Nodong



Like the PAD interceptor, it uses the Prithvi liquid motors.
Posted by john frum 2009-03-07 19:48||   2009-03-07 19:48|| Front Page Top

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