The Defence Ministry on Wednesday said the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted a flight-test of the phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence System.
"Today, 24th July 2024, the @DRDO_India successfully flight-tested Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence System. Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh has congratulated DRDO for today’s successful flight test of Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence System and stated that the test has again demonstrated our Ballistic Missiles Defence capability," Defence Ministry's official X handle post read.
"The Phase-II AD Endo-atmospheric missile was launched from LC-III at ITR, Chandipurat 1624 hrs. The flight test fully met all the trial objectives validating complete network centric warfare weapon system consisting of Long Range Sensors, low latency communication system and MCC and Advance Interceptor missiles," a statement released by DRDO read.
The test has demonstrated Nation’s indigenous capability to defend against the Ballistic Missiles of 5000 km class. The performance of the missile was monitored from the flight data captured by Range tracking instruments like Electro-Optical Systems, Radar and Telemetry Stations deployed by ITR,Chandipur at various locations including on-board ship.
The Phase-II AD Endo-atmospheric missile is an indigenously developed Two Stage solid propelled ground launched missile system meant for neutralising many types of enemy ballistic missile threats in the altitude bracket of endo to low exo-atmospheric regions. A number of state-of-the-art indigenous technologies developed by various DRDO laboratories have been incorporated in the missile system.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh complimented DRDO for today’s successful flight test and stated that it has again demonstrated the Ballistic Missiles Defence capability. Secretary Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr Samir V Kamat congratulated entire DRDO team for their untiring effort and contribution culminating into successful flight test.
Maiden flight test of Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence interceptor conducted in 2022
Earlier, DRDO conducted a successful maiden flight-test of Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor AD-1 missile with large kill altitude bracket from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha on November 02, 2022. The flight-test was carried out with participation of all BMD weapon system elements located at different geographical locations.
The AD-1 is a long-range interceptor missile designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long-range ballistic missiles as well as aircraft. It is propelled by a two-stage solid motor and equipped with indigenously-developed advanced control system, navigation and guidance algorithm to precisely guide the vehicle to the target. During the flight-test, all the sub-systems performed as per expectations and were validated by the data captured by a number of range sensors including Radar, Telemetry and Electro Optical Tracking stations deployed to capture the flight data.
