India’s successful test on Thursday of an indigenous ballistic missile system. The missile was guided towards the incoming ballistic missile by a series of ground-based radars before activating its own seeker, which led to a spectacular direct hit.
Story Highlights
- India is fourth country in world to master the technology of direct hit
- The interceptor missile travels at almost five times the speed of sound
- This is the third supersonic interceptor test carried out this year
New Delhi: An interceptor missile streaks towards its target – a ballistic missile – Star Wars style, and scores a direct hit. NDTV has accessed footage of India’s successful test on Thursday of an indigenous ballistic missile system. The missile was guided towards the incoming ballistic missile by a series of ground-based radars before activating its own seeker, which led to a spectacular direct hit. This can be described as hitting a bullet with a bullet. Once the system becomes operational, India will have an advanced system that can defend us from medium range ballistic missiles from Pakistan. This ballistic missile defence system is one of the most critical and technically complex indigenous defence projects.
At 9.45 am on Thursday, India successfully tested a supersonic interceptor missile capable of destroying any incoming ballistic missile in low altitude. The missile hit bull’s eye at about 15 km above the Earth’s surface in the Bay of Bengal. Highly placed sources in the Ministry of Defence told NDTV that the high speed Interceptor Missile was the ninth test of this futuristic air defence system which will be used to protect high value installations if targeted by enemy missiles. India is the fourth country in the world to master the technology of hitting a missile with a missile.
The single stage solid fuelled interceptor missile travels at almost five times the speed of sound. This is the third supersonic interceptor test carried out this year. The earlier two tests were conducted on March 1 and February 11, 2017.