Indian Ballistic Missile Defense System

nitesh

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Hmmm... The first Hindu report is almost 6 years old. But, the second report did shed some light on the issue. Thanks for that.

Okay. So the US won't exactly give us that technology. But, we have other avenues like Russian systems which are still open to us. Why not use that then?

And, correct me if I'm wrong... wasn't the US willing to offer us the Patriot system?
Google about S 300 you will come to know. Yes US has offered the Patriot system.

Go through this article:
DRDO schedules another missile defence test next month

DRDO to test missile defence in Feb

New Delhi, Jan 23: Aiming to get a shield against missile over its skies, India will conduct another test of its Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) next month.

"Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will conduct the test of its interceptor missile and missile tracking radars next month for validating the advancements made in the Air Defence programme," Defence Ministry sources told reporters here today.

Though the interceptor missiles, namely Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) and Advanced Air Defence (AAD), have been tested earlier, the main aim of the next month's test would be to validate the capabilities of the indigenously developed 'Swordfish' Long Range Tracking Radar (LRTR).

Swordfish is a target acquisition and fire control radar for the BMD system.

"The missile to be hit will be fired from a longer distance than it was in the earlier test. DRDO will test whether the radar can track the incoming missile from that distance or not," they said.

In next month's test, the exo-atmospheric interceptor missile PAD will hit its target in space at an altitude over 80 km from earth, sources said.

They said the premier defence research agency will carry out another test around the year end to enhance the capabilities of AAD endo-atmospheric missile, which is used for intercepting missiles at altitudes up to 15 km.

Sources said if the tests prove successful, the DRDO will go ahead with the deployment of the BMD by 2015.

When contacted, DRDO Air Defence programme Director V K Saraswat said that the AD programme was at a "fairly advanced stage" now.

"The building blocks of BMD such as the surveillance, tracking and battlefield management systems have been developed," he said.

Saraswat said the DRDO has developed a very robust command and control system for the AD programme, which can "survive and deliver" in any environment.

"Our command, control and communication system can work in a networked form and survive and deliver even in a high electronic warfare (EW) environment," he said.

He said India was always open for cooperation developing technologies for the programme with friendly foreign countries, but said the country would "not buy" any ready-made BMD systems from any country.

"We have done some thinking on cooperation with countries such as Russia, United States and Israel in this programme and we have taken their help also in developing some of the technologies such as the 'Swordfish' radar for the BMD with Israel but we will not buy anything ready-made from outside," Saraswat said.
 

EnlightenedMonk

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Google about S 300 you will come to know. Yes US has offered the Patriot system.

Go through this article:
DRDO schedules another missile defence test next month

DRDO to test missile defence in Feb

New Delhi, Jan 23: Aiming to get a shield against missile over its skies, India will conduct another test of its Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) next month.

"Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will conduct the test of its interceptor missile and missile tracking radars next month for validating the advancements made in the Air Defence programme," Defence Ministry sources told reporters here today.

Though the interceptor missiles, namely Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) and Advanced Air Defence (AAD), have been tested earlier, the main aim of the next month's test would be to validate the capabilities of the indigenously developed 'Swordfish' Long Range Tracking Radar (LRTR).

Swordfish is a target acquisition and fire control radar for the BMD system.

"The missile to be hit will be fired from a longer distance than it was in the earlier test. DRDO will test whether the radar can track the incoming missile from that distance or not," they said.

In next month's test, the exo-atmospheric interceptor missile PAD will hit its target in space at an altitude over 80 km from earth, sources said.

They said the premier defence research agency will carry out another test around the year end to enhance the capabilities of AAD endo-atmospheric missile, which is used for intercepting missiles at altitudes up to 15 km.

Sources said if the tests prove successful, the DRDO will go ahead with the deployment of the BMD by 2015.

When contacted, DRDO Air Defence programme Director V K Saraswat said that the AD programme was at a "fairly advanced stage" now.

"The building blocks of BMD such as the surveillance, tracking and battlefield management systems have been developed," he said.

Saraswat said the DRDO has developed a very robust command and control system for the AD programme, which can "survive and deliver" in any environment.

"Our command, control and communication system can work in a networked form and survive and deliver even in a high electronic warfare (EW) environment," he said.

He said India was always open for cooperation developing technologies for the programme with friendly foreign countries, but said the country would "not buy" any ready-made BMD systems from any country.

"We have done some thinking on cooperation with countries such as Russia, United States and Israel in this programme and we have taken their help also in developing some of the technologies such as the 'Swordfish' radar for the BMD with Israel but we will not buy anything ready-made from outside," Saraswat said.
Hmmm... maybe a policy decision not to buy... but, can't we get them as a stop gap arrangement until the BMD system becomes operational? Only stop gap arrangement...

I know about the BMD test. It was also successful.
 

nitesh

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Hmmm... maybe a policy decision not to buy... but, can't we get them as a stop gap arrangement until the BMD system becomes operational? Only stop gap arrangement...

I know about the BMD test. It was also successful.
Policy decisions are not taken just like that. After the threat assessment is done then government takes a decision to buy a weapon system or not. So When Indian Government has taken a decision they must have thought about it.
 
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we need an indigenous system,patriot if offered will come with a lot of strings and if anything we should look into the S-400 but Indigenous is the only way to go, except for maybe the radar.
 

nitesh

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we need an indigenous system,patriot if offered will come with a lot of strings and if anything we should look into the S-400 but Indigenous is the only way to go, except for maybe the radar.
Buddy after the last test, I don't think they are willing to go for other system. Israel's help is already confirmed in radar. Way to go Pradyumna :)
 
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India plans radars in space to boost missile defence system

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal...o-boost-missile-defence-system_100164598.html

India plans radars in space to boost missile defence system
March 9th, 2009 - 7:58 pm ICT by IANS -

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) India is planning space-based radars to overcome the range impediment for its missile defence system, which was successfully tested March 6 and at present can destroy enemy missiles up to a range of 2,000 km only, an official said Monday.
In a step towards indigenising the ballistic missile defence system, premier military research organisation Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has tested its interceptor missile for a third time.

“The interceptor can kill missiles up to 2,000 km class of systems. In phase-II, we are developing above 2,000 km class of systems… At present, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is developing a space-based surveillance system that will help us in phase-II,” chief controller of DRDO’s missile systems and the programme director V.K. Saraswat said.

Airborne radars mounted atop aircraft, which India is acquiring from Israel, will help track missiles above 2,000 km. For tracking missiles of the range of 6,000 km, the interceptors will take help of radars mounted on satellites.

Currently, the radars can cover an area of a radius of 600 km.

“You need much more energy for missiles of higher range. In terms of seeker, the time is very less as the speed of the missiles also increases,” Saraswat added.

India March 6 registered a hat-trick as an indigenous interceptor successfully neutralized an “enemy” ballistic missile at an altitude of 75 km and demonstrated its capability to defend itself against Chinese and Pakistani missiles.

The test was a key element in the efforts of the DRDO to put in place a missile defence shield to protect populated areas and vital installations like nuclear power plants from nuclear attacks.

“The whole process of target classification takes 30 seconds. Then the batteries (of the interceptor missile), which are in hot stand-by conditions, can be launched within 100-120 seconds of target detection,” Saraswat said.

You cannot buy or borrow a ballistic missile defence system. It has to be homegrown. The US system is developed for their defence. The threat profile of our country is different and the system has to be customised to suit the needs of our country,” Saraswat said talking in reference to the Israeli Arrow system and the American Patriot system courting the Indian defence establishment for possible orders.

The DRDO will be conducting five tests each for endo-atmospheric (below 30 km altitude), exo-atmospheric (above 30 km altitude) and integrated missile defence systems.

“By December 2010, we expect to complete the development of the missile system,” he added.

DRDO expects the ballistic missile shield to take care of threats from existing Chinese and Pakistani missiles. While Pakistan possesses missiles with ranges between 400 and 2,000 km, the Chinese arsenal varies from a range of 300 km to 2,800 km.
 
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Indian Ballistic Missile better than American: DRDO scientist

http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2009-03-09/513782news.html

Indian Ballistic Missile better than American: DRDO scientist

New Delhi, March 09: Terming the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC) III anti-missile system as "outdated", top DRDO scientist V K Saraswat said the Indian Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield was better than the American system.

"PAC III is an outdated system. Our Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile is 30 percent superior in terms of range and capability. AAD intercepts at much higher ranges and altitudes compared to PAC III as it has only 15km range for BMD," he told a press conference on the successful test of BMD system on March 6.

On the role of foreign countries in the Air Defence (AD) programme, Saraswat said Russia, Israel and France have provided assistance in areas where DRDO needed help for "bridging technology gap and accelerating technology development."

Russia has helped India develop the new Radio Frequency Seeker for the interceptor missile, Israel provided help in developing the 'Swordfish' long-range tracking radar and the French have given the Fire Control System for the BMD.

Saraswat said the new warhead weighed only around 30 kg but was able to generate the impact that a 150 kg omni-directional warhead could make.

He said the new guidance system in the missile allowed it to tackle the maneuvers of enemy's incoming missile and could be used against the Russian Topol M class of missiles, which move in a zig-zag manner.

The DRDO official also said the system was "fully automated" and did not require human intervention in activating it in case of an attack by ballistic missiles.

"Under the present system, the interceptor missiles are on 'Hot Stand-by mode' and can take-off within 120 seconds of the detection of the incoming missile by the tracking radars," he said.

Saraswat also said the current missile is 30 per cent more powerful than the missile used in the December 2006 test of the endo-atmospheric interceptor.

He said during the flight of the interceptor missile towards the ballistic missile, the interceptor is constantly updated about the position of its target by the ground-based radars.

During a war, unlike the demonstration phase, a volley of interceptor missiles would be launched against enemy ballistic missiles to improve the hit probability, he said.

Commenting on the possibility of the interceptor being jammed by enemy missiles, Saraswat said with the missile having only one link with the ground, it was "very difficult" to jam it as various counter measures were in place to stop such an effort.

He said work on developing a new interceptor 'PDV' for phase-I programme was also going on.

The official said to tackle missiles with a striking range of over 6,000 km, hypersonic interceptor missiles will have to be developed for the phase 2 of the air defence programme.

"Phase 2 interceptors will have speeds of 6-7 Mach and they will be hypersonic. Missiles will have lesser time to intercept and our guidance systems have to be far more energetic and quick responsive," he said.

In the previous two trials, DRDO had successfully tested the BMD system in November 2006 outside the atmosphere at a 48-km altitude and inside atmosphere at an altitude of 15-km in December 2007.

DRDO has developed a two-tier system with the PAD missiles intercepting ballistic missiles at altitudes between 50-80 km and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile destroying them at heights between 15-30 km.

Bureau Report
 

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India kicks off work on advanced missile defence shield

Buoyed by the successful testing of its fledgling ballistic missile defence, India is pushing ahead with an ambitious version of the
star wars project capable of shooting down incoming ICBMs in the 5,000 km range.

The phase-II of the BMD systems, likely to be deployed by 2014, will be an important part of India's defence as both China and Pakistan possess nuclear capable missiles. Once the BMD is in place it will place India in a fairly exclusive club alongside US, Russia and Israel.

India will be playing catch up with China which stunned the world by shooting down a weather satellite with a missile in January 2007. Putting in place a system capable of intercepting inter-continental ballistic missiles would enhance India's strategic prowess.

While a BMD system can be overwhelmed by a flurry of missiles or a low-flying cruise, it would be a important part of India's defence against the danger of ballistic missiles.

If the ongoing Phase-I BMD system is geared to tackling enemy missiles with a 2,000-km range, Phase-II is enhance capacities significantly. Plans are also afoot to have space-based surveillance systems to ensure a hostile threat can be detected even earlier than the present long-range tracking radars (LRTRs) used in the BMD system, which track the `enemy' missile as well as guide the `interceptor' missile in destroying it.

Sources said DRDO has told the government that while the Phase-I systems can be deployed from 2012 onwards, the Phase-II systems will come into operational play only from 2014 onwards at the earliest.

There will be another interesting spin-off from the indigenous two-tier BMD system, capable of tracking and destroying hostile missiles both inside (endo) and outside (exo) the earth's atmosphere. It will give India a potent anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon since technology required for "neutralisation'' of a ballistic missile or a satellite is somewhat similar.

India, of course, has received presentations from the three countries which have operational BMD or anti-ballistic missile systems -- US (Patriot Advanced Capability-3), Russia (S-300V) and Israel (Arrow-2) -- as of now.

Though all three are hawking their systems to India, New Delhi has decided to go in for its own "home-grown'' BMD system specifically designed to meet its security needs. Moreover, there are financial and feasibility concerns about importing foreign systems.

"We are cooperating with countries to bridge our technology gaps. US, for instance, has a different threat profile. Its systems will not be suitable for us. Our system has to cater for our own threat profile,'' DRDO chief controller for missiles, Dr V K Saraswat, said on Monday.

Dismissing PAC-3 as "an outdated system'', the scientist said India's BMD system was "20-30% more capable'' than it. He, however, acknowledged the BMD system had received some help from countries like Israel (LRTRs), France (fire-control radars) and Russia (seekers).

DRDO, of course, often promises more than it can deliver. This time, however, it sounds quite confident, especially after the third test of the Phase-I BMD system on March 6, when a two-stage exo-atmospheric interceptor missile intercepted an `enemy' missile at an 80-km altitude.

In the earlier tests, in November 2006 and December 2007, the enemy missiles had been "killed'' at altitudes of 48-km and 15-km respectively. The next test, with both exo and endo interceptor missiles in an integrated mode, is slated for September.

"We will complete all our tests for Phase-I by 2010-2011. All BMD building blocks like long-range radars, communication network, mission control centre and launch control centre are in place,'' said Saraswat.

"What we are now perfecting are Phase-I interceptor missiles, which fly at 4.5 Mach high-supersonic speeds. We are already working on Phase-II interceptors, which will have hypersonic speeds of 6-7 Mach,'' he added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...issile-defence-shield/articleshow/4247009.cms
 

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090310/jsp/nation/story_10651469.jsp

Swadeshi missile vs Patriot
- Interceptor better than US system: Scientists
Sujan Dutta
New Delhi, March 9: The missile-destroying interceptor India has tested is better than a US-made ballistic missile defence system whose capabilities have been presented by the Pentagon to India’s defence establishment, a senior Indian defence scientist said today.

“This is a strategic system that needs to be developed in India.… It can’t be bought or borrowed. A (foreign-made) ballistic missile defence system (originally) developed for a threat profile different from India’s may not be suitable,” said V.K. Saraswat, director of the Prithvi Air Defence, the indigenous interceptor. “We need a system tailored to meet our own threat profile.”

“We do not want to talk about competition,” Saraswat said. “As far as we are concerned, we have been tasked to do a job, and that is what we are doing.”

here comes the sales talk................. on whose behalf

A home-grown ballistic missile defence system could be cheaper than an imported one, but years of delay may increase lifecycle costs. However, its development could help the government drive a bargain with foreign makers and push costs of imports down. The Indian system would need up to five more tests, some of which would be outside the atmosphere and some within the atmosphere, and eventually lead to a defence system that would outclass any US, Russian or Israeli system of 200km range, Saraswat claimed.

The interceptor, launched within 120 seconds after a ground-based radar detected the incoming missile, homed in on the target and destroyed it through an explosion when it was within nine metres of it.
 

nitesh

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good article:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index....view&id=31874&sectionid=4&issueid=96&Itemid=1

DRDO readies shield against Chinese ICBMs
Sandeep Unnithan
New Delhi, March 9, 2009

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has begun developing an extended range versions of its home-grown missile defence shield to shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) or missiles which have ranges greater than 5000 km. Phase 2 of the missile defence shield will be the class of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missiles, Dr V.K. Saraswat, DRDO Chief Controller (Missiles and Strategic Systems), said today.

While Saraswat did not mention it, defence analysts feel that Phase 2 of the missile defence shield is almost certainly meant to defend India from China's arsenal of ICBMs. China is the only Asian country which has an ICBM arsenal, including submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

The Ballistic Missile Interceptor, which successfully intercepted a Dhanush-ballistic missile test-fired from a warship – the INS Subhadra – is part of the ballistic missile defence system which can only shoot down intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) of upto 2000 km range like Pakistan's Ghauri and Shaheen missiles. "This system will be out mainstay until we enter Phase 2," Dr Saraswat said, addressing the media after Friday's successful test-firing of the Advanced Air Defence System from Wheeler Island. The Phase 1 is to be completed and ready for induction by 2011.

Dr Saraswat said that Phase 2 was far more challenging because it calls for detecting ICBMs hurtling at twice the speeds of intermediate range missiles. It not only requires bigger interceptor missiles flying at hypersonic speeds of between six and seven times the speed of sound (present interceptor speeds are between Mach 4 and Mach 5) but also radars to detect incoming ICBMs at ranges of over 1500 kms as opposed to the current detection ranges of over 600 km.

Phase 2 will be part of the DRDO's attempts at incrementally increasing the BMD capabilities of the home-grown system. Friday's test was the third successful test of the ballistic missile since it was first test-fired in December 2006 – the first test shot of the exo-atmospheric interceptor down a missile 45 km away; the second test a year later proved the endo-atmospheric or Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor, which shot downed an incoming ballistic missile 15 km away and Friday's test, shot down a ballistic missile 48 km away. The interceptor used a 'gimbaled directional warhead' or a warhead only one side of which explodes close to an incoming ballistic missile, shattering it.

For Phase 2, Dr Saraswat said that the organisation had already begun development of a two-stage hypersonic missile interceptor called the PDV and it would be ready in two years. It had also put in place the building blocks for developing extended range radars of over 1500 km.

Unlike the exo-atmospheric interceptor, which was test-fired on Friday, the PDV has two stages, a liquid and a solid. The PDV is a longer missile with two solid stages.
It is in the class of the THAAD or Terminal High Altitude Area Defence missiles deployed by the United States as part of its missile shield beginning this year. THAAD boasts of missiles which can intercept ballistic missiles over 200 km away and tracking radars with ranges of over 1000 km.

The only Achilles heel in the Phase 1 of the ballistic missile interceptor is that it cannot tackle strategic cruise missiles like the Tomahawk flying a little over tree-top height. For intercepting such flat-trajectory weapons would call for airborne systems capable of tracking them, Saraswat said.
 

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http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/10/stories/2009031060051000.htm

Ballistic missiles programme on course: DRDO

Special Correspondent

Two more tests to be concluded before programme is completed by 2011, says Saraswat

First phase envisages ability to intercept incoming missiles with 2000-km range

Second phase is to engage intercontinental ballistic missiles with range of over 3,500 km


NEW DELHI: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Monday said the plans to develop the country’s ballistic missile programme remained on course and expressed confidence of completing the first phase by 2010.

Having successfully flight-tested the third ballistic missile interceptor last Friday at the integrated test range, Chief Controller (Missiles Strategic Systems) and Programme Director (Air Defence), V.K. Saraswat said two more tests would have to be conducted before the programme would be completed latest by 2011. “The third consecutive interception of ballistic missile demonstrated the robustness of the Indian BMD system. The DRDO have already conducted two interception trials, first in exo-atmospheric region at 48 km altitude on November 27, 2006 and the second in endo-atmospheric region at 15 km using AAD missile on December 6, 2007,” he said.

Dr. Saraswat, who briefed journalists here, said the integrated endo-atmospheric and exo-atmospheric tests were expected to be conducted by the end of this year.

The first phase envisages ability to intercept incoming missiles with a range of 2000-km. It is designed to engage multiple targets by firing a salvo of missiles. The second phase would be to engage the intercontinental ballistic missiles, which have a range of over 3,500 km.

Responding to questions, he said the interceptor used in the Friday test was guided by Inertial Navigation System in mid course and radio frequency homing seeker in the end game, which means destroying the incoming missile.

While he refrained from answering as to how the DRDO views the move by the defence authorities seeing presentations from foreign companies on missile air defence, Dr. Saraswat said the DRDO had been tasked to work towards developing ballistic missiles in the country. As for cooperation from other countries, he said, it was sought to bridge the technical requirements and to accelerate technical development.
 

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Missile Defense System Phase 1 to be Ready by 2011-2012: DRDO

`


After achieving a hat-trick of successful tests of the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield, DRDO today said the first phase of the system would be developed by 2011.

"All building blocks of the BMD are ready at the moment. Only part that remains to be developed is the interceptor missile and by the time they are in place, we will have our full mechanism in place. We have a programme till 2011 to complete this," DRDO's Chief Controller and Air Defence programme Director V K Saraswat said in New Delhi.

Saraswat said DRDO needed to conduct five repeated trials of the interceptor missiles before the phase I of the programme is over.

He added that DRDO will be conducting an "integrated test" of its endo-atmospheric and exo-atmospheric missiles by the end of this year to further strengthen the system.

Speaking about the capabilities of the system tested on Friday last week, he said it was capable of "taking on" the Chinese M-9 class missiles with a range of up to 2,000 Km.

On the new technologies added and modifications made in the interceptor missile PAD 02, Saraswat said, "We modified our interceptor missile and provided it with higher energy, an improved guidance and control system and on top of it all, we have integrated a Gimbaled Directional Warhead with it."

Saraswat said the new warhead weighed only around 30 kg but was able to generate the impact that a 150 kg omni-directional warhead could make.

He said the new guidance system in the missile allowed it to tackle the maneuvers of enemy's incoming missile and could be used against the Russian Topol M class of missiles, which move in a zig-zag manner.

The DRDO official also said the system was "fully automated" and did not require human intervention in activating it in case of an attack by ballistic missiles.

"Under the present system, the interceptor missiles are on 'Hot Stand-by mode' and can take-off within 120 seconds of the detection of the incoming missile by the tracking radars," he said.

Saraswat also said the current missile is 30 per cent more powerful than the missile used in the December 2006 test of the endo-atmospheric interceptor.

He said during the flight of the interceptor missile towards the ballistic missile, the interceptor is constantly updated about the position of its target by the ground-based radars.

During a war, unlike the demonstration phase, a volley of interceptor missiles would be launched against enemy ballistic missiles to improve the hit probability, he said.

Commenting on the possibility of the interceptor being jammed by enemy missiles, Saraswat said with the missile having only one link with the ground, it was "very difficult" to jam it as various counter measures were in place to stop such an effort.

He said work on developing a new interceptor 'PDV' for phase-I programme was also going on.

The official said to tackle missiles with a striking range of over 6,000 km, hypersonic interceptor missiles will have to be developed for the phase 2 of the air defence programme.

"Phase 2 interceptors will have speeds of 6-7 Mach and they will be hypersonic. Missiles will have lesser time to intercept and our guidance systems have to be far more energetic and quick responsive," he said.

In the previous two trials, DRDO had successfully tested the BMD system in November 2006 outside the atmosphere at a 48-km altitude and inside atmosphere at an altitude of 15-km in December 2007.

DRDO has developed a two-tier system with the PAD missiles intercepting ballistic missiles at altitudes between 50-80 km and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile destroying them at heights between 15-30 km
http://www.india-defence.com/reports/4267
 

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Missile defence: Deploy early to foil foreign lobby

New Delhi: The government should immediately deploy the indigenously developed missile defence system and foil efforts by foreign arms lobbies to push through their systems, military sources said.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) flight-tested the third ballistic missile interceptor on March 6. The earlier two tests were also successful. Scientists and military sources say India should not repeat the blunders committed in development of Arjun tank and Akash missile. In fact, "immediate deployment" was the need of the hour.

The project to develop defense against incoming ballistic missiles is one of the most expensive by India. DRDO said it will perfect the first stage system in two years and carry out integrated tests in exo and endo atmospheric regionsby year-end.But, deployment of any system would mean they would be mass produced. That would bring down cost per piece, and improve technology. "In most of our indigenous projects, delay in serial production has been a setback," a defence ministry source said.Citing main battle tank Arjun, a senior army official said, "Had it been pushed into serial production, the product would have been significantly better today. As its production was stalled, Arjun fell behind other products of its class."

Similar was the case of Akash, a surface-to-air missile with a 30km range. "Had the air force inducted it in large numbers, economies of scale would have ensured Akash became cheaper. But since the promised large scale induction did not happen, foreign missile systems are taking its place," a DRDO source said.

DRDO chief Dr M Natarajan recently said in Bangalore, the Air Force had inducted eight Akash squadrons, but after the then IAF chief retired, the new air chief brought down the order to two squadrons.

The call for immediate deployment comes in the light of intense pressure from the US to sell PAC-III and Aegis missile defence systemsto India.Russia and Israel too have their own defence systems and powerful lobbies capable of influencing decisions here.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1238543
 

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