IANS,
India Sunday tested a specially developed high-speed interceptor missile, Advanced Air Defence (AAD), over the Bay of Bengal to examine its capability to destroy a missile, defence sources said here.
As a part of its air defence exercise, scientists fired the high-speed interceptor missile a few minutes after an electronics target was blasted off from Chandipur-on-Sea near here.
The interceptor missile was fired at 10.44 a.m. from Inner Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast. The electronics target, a derivative of Prithvi missile, was fired at 10.42 a.m. from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) of Chandipur, located about 120 km from Wheeler Island, defence sources said.
Defence sources described the Sunday trial as a mock trial and said a final one would be conducted subsequently after analysing data.
On Nov 27 last year, defence scientists had successfully conducted the Prithvi Air Defence exercise similarly in the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast, using a modified version of Prithvi to destroy an incoming target missile.
The AAD used Sunday was a new missile and not a derivative or an update of any existing missile. It was specially designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for this role, the defence sources said.
In performance, the AAD is slightly better than US' PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability) in interception, altitude and range against incoming ballistic missiles, the sources said.
