Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme

First phase of ballistic missile shield to be deployed in 2012


Y. MALLIKARJUN
HYDERABAD, March 22, 2010

Notwithstanding the recent failure of the interceptor missile test, the first phase of the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence System to intercept and destroy incoming enemy missiles of less than 2,000-km range is expected to be deployed in two years.

Disclosing this to The Hindu recently, V.K. Saraswat, Director-General, Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, said the first phase would be made operational through the new concept of ‘capability-based deployment.' The Air Defence Programme has been divided into two parts — depending upon the threat perception. While the first category of threats pertains to enemy missiles with less than 2,000-km range, the second type belongs to those with more than 2,000 km. Both the phases will have two layers. The aim of the two-tier system is to first destroy an incoming missile, at a higher altitude, in the exo-atmosphere above 50 km. If that does not happen, the endo-atmospheric interception will take place up at the height of 30 km from the earth.

The DRDO has developed the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for exo-atmospheric interception and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) system for endo-atmosphere interception.

With a fresh interceptor missile test in the endo-atmosphere planned in a couple of months, some more trials were planned for 2010-11 and 2011-12 to ensure reliability, repeatability and suitability for deploying phase-1assets, Dr. Saraswat said.

Simultaneously, DRDO scientists have started work on phase-II solutions. It requires radars of longer range and new hypersonic interceptor missiles flying at Mach 6 with agility and the capability to discriminate against ballistic missile defence counter measures. “Our effort is to have interception at very high altitudes, and the entire system will be able to handle multiple, simultaneous attacks,” he said.

A crucial requirement for the second phase is a floating test-range — a complete launch station from which interceptors will be fired. Scientists have started designing the ship and associated systems such as radar, mission control centre, launch control centre, communication network and many other equipment needed for phase-II trials.

The ‘capability-based deployment,' under which a system would be put to use, as it got perfected, had paid rich dividends for some countries, Dr. Saraswat said. The entire work on the two phases was planned to be completed by 2016.

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/article261220.ece

claim and reality differ much my friend

Actually the date is 2014 for Delhi only. Other major cities will follow only after that. But these sort of things are only state secrets and only general statements are provided for public consumption.

BTW I won't be surprised, if they already have something in place for a city like Delhi where ministers/VIPs live.

Wouldn't it be ironic if Indian Air Defense detected several meteorites falling down to Earth and thought they were missiles, fired off a volley at them....

Which resulted in China sending missiles their way? ....Thought India was firing at them?

We're going to reach a point where something like this will occur.

The following is the DRDO press release :

The Interceptor Missile AAD launched by the Scientists of DRDO from Wheeler’s Island, Odisha successfully destroyed the incoming Ballistic Missile at an altitude of 15 Kms. The interception took place at 12.52hrs. The target missile, a modified version of Prithvi, mimicking the enemy’s ballistic missile, was launched from Launch Complex III, Chandipur.

Long Range Radar and MFC Radar located far away could detect the Missile from take-off and tracked it through its entire path. The total trajectory of the incoming Missile was continuously estimated by the guidance computer and subsequently the AAD Missile was launched at an appropriate time to counter and kill the ballistic missile.

The Ring Laser Gyro based Navigation System in Target, Fibre Optic Gyro based INS in Interceptor, Onboard computers, Guidance systems, Actuation Systems and the critical RF Seekers used for the terminal phase have performed excellently. The AAD Missile system initially guided by Inertial Navigation system was continuously getting update of the target position by the Radar through a data link. The Radio Frequency (RF) seeker tracked the Missile & Onboard computer guided the Missile towards the Target Missile and hit the target. The Radio Proximity Fuse (RPF) exploded the warhead thereby destroying the target missile completely.

In this mission, a special feature of intercepting multiple target with multiple interceptor was demonstrated successfully. An electronic target with a range of 1500 Kms was launched and the Radars picked up the target missile, tracked the target missile subsequently & launched an electronic interceptor missile. This electronic interceptor missile destroyed the electronic target missile at an altitude of 120 Kms. All the four missiles were tracked by the Radars and all the guidance and launch computers operated in full operational mode for handling multiple targets with multiple interceptor. All the four missiles were in the sky simultaneously and both the interceptions took place near simultaneously. This has proved the capability of DRDO to handle multiple targets with multiple interceptors simultaneously. The complete Radar Systems, Communication Networks, Launch Computers, Target update Systems and state of the art Avionics have been completely proven in this Mission.

Nice!

Is there any more info and pics of the interceptor?

I have a felling India while testing its antimissile systems conduits more complex scenarios than Americans

Cyberspec wrote:Is there any more info and pics of the interceptor?

Here you go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vAyRhIH-9cE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wX7NCLTqQ_w

Viktor wrote:I have a felling India while testing its antimissile systems conduits more complex scenarios than Americans

I wish that was the case since India faces a far greater threat from Ballistic and Cruise missiles than the Yankees.

Firstly, the DRDO-released video of the interception clearly showed that the AAD interceptor’s warhead was detonated through proximity-fuzing & it wasn’t a hit-to-kill event. Secondly, incoming Prithvi-based target missile’s terminal velocity was way below that of an incoming solid fuel-powered missile, as clearly shown by the video-clip. Thirdly, it is still highly premature to claim that A) the special feature of intercepting multiple target with multiple interceptor was demonstrated successfully. B) This has proved the capability of DRDO to handle multiple targets with multiple interceptors simultaneously.

All claims about four ‘electronic’ targets being successfully engaged at an altitudes of 120km by ‘electronically generated’ interceptor vehicles only prove the fact that the DRDO’s BMD launch control centre’s (LCC) architecture, inclusive of the launch control section, simulation section & shadow mission control centre (MCC) section, is just an end-to-end theatre missile defence simulator that was acquired by the DRDO from Israel’s Tadiran Electronic Systems almost a decade ago . Undertaking such laboratory-level electronic interceptions with imported & expensive hardware is fine for technology demonstrations, but not for operational air-defence networks where actual battlefield conditions, vagaries of the weather & EMI considerations have to be factored in for demonstrating the robustness of the air-defence network. Until, this happens, nothing else done so far conclusively proves the DRDO’s capability to handle multiple targets with multiple interceptors simultaneously.

In reality, neither the long-awaited PDV nor the AD-1 or AD-2 (which by the DRDO’s own admission will form the definitive interceptor-missiles for India’s BMD system) have materialised as yet. Only after these three new-generation interceptor-missiles are subjected to actual test-firings against solid-fuelled ballistic missiles like Agni-1 & Agni-2 will one be able to compile a realistic appreciation of the true capabilities of a TMD/BMD system.

Sujoy wrote:
Here you go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vAyRhIH-9cE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wX7NCLTqQ_w

Thanks.

Viktor wrote: Russian delegation at India-2013 made some harsh remarks on India-USA corporation and weapons sales.

It could be that India might buy some to fill the time gap until its own is developed/tested/introduced.

Viktor , you raise some important observations so please bear with me as I explain to you .

The "harsh" words of the Russian delegation ( read Rosoboronexport) were directed towards the Indian media who the Russian delegation said were biased towards the US . Now , while there is a grain of truth in this observation of Rosoboronexport it is important to remember that those individuals in the Indian media who patronizes US products do so because they are on the payrolls of US defense contractors . In other words they are mercenaries . If Rosoboronexport pays them they will rub eloquence on Russian manufacturers as well . It's that simple .

Regarding the purchase of S 300 V , India had already purchased 6 batteries of S 300 PMU2 in the mid nineties to counter Chinese and Pakistani IRBMs ( The Govt.of India does not acknowledge this deal in public because allegedly money exchanged hands under table )

http://www.rediff.in/news/mar/26russi1.htm

I agree with you that going forward India may well place order for S 300 V or even the S 400 .

New Delhi Test-Fires India-Made Interceptor Missile

The test of a supersonic interceptor missile AAD (Advanced Air Defense) of Indian production was conducted to validate various parameters of the interceptor in flight mode, according to local media.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — India test-fired a supersonic interceptor missile AAD (Advanced Air Defense) of its own production, local media reported on Sunday.

"The test was conducted to validate various parameters of the interceptor in flight mode," the Indian Express newspaper reported, citing defense sources.

The interceptor was engaged against an electronically prepared target which simulated the trajectory of a hostile ballistic missile.

The tested missile is capable of destroying any incoming ballistic missile, the newspaper said.

Since the early 2000s, India has been developing its ballistic missile defense program, which was launched in the wake of the ballistic missile threat mainly from Pakistan, with which New Delhi was in three major wars, one undeclared war and numerous armed confrontations.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20151122/1030549400/india-aad-missile.html#ixzz3sIW8XiXc

The Need for a Missile Defense Readiness Matrix

INDIA'S IMPERATIVES

India's Advanced Air Defence System called "Ashwin" has achieved significant milestones in the recent past and as part of the efforts to develop a full fledged multi-layered Ballistic Missile Defence system, the DRDO on November 22, 2015 test-fired its indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile against an electronically simulated target missile over the Bay of Bengal, capable of destroying any incoming hostile projectile.
As part of a realistic dual threat perception, India plans to deploy a two-tiered Ballistic Missile Defence system to protect important cities and vital installations from enemy attack. The first phase seeks to destroy incoming enemy missiles of 2,000 km range, while the second phase envisages killing incoming missiles of more than 2,000 km. The PDV (Prithvi Defence Vehicle) missile is for high altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile is for interception at lower altitudes. The DRDO had also successfully demonstrated a special feature of intercepting multiple targets with multiple interceptors. It has conducted 11 interceptor missile tests with negligible failures. While eight of the missions were in endo-atmosphere, the remaining were in exo-atmospheric regime. It is worthy to note that this technology is very exclusive and the preserve of very few nations, suffice to say it is kind of a heading position in air defense technology.

It must be remembered that by maturing the PDV/AAD combination in Phase 1, India would be able to create capabilities against only missiles which have ranges not exceeding 2,000 km. While this will cater to the Pakistani threat until the near future, it would be rather inadequate against the full spectrum of Chinese MIRV threats.

The DRDO is aware of these ground realities and in Phase 2 of the program, plans to develop two new anti-ballistic missiles. These Hypersonic missiles will be able to intercept threats with a range of around 5,000 km. The new missiles (AD-1 and AD-2) will be similar to THAAD missiles deployed by the US and will require radars with scan capability of over 1,500 km to successfully intercept the target.

While the PDV & AAD tests are undoubtedly a major milestone that will bring India closer to putting in place a ballistic missile defence cover, however, one of the major drawbacks that cannot be overlooked of the evolving multi-layered air defence capability time and effort spent on evaluation & testing. While a Chinese threat is not of an imminent possibility the Pakistani equation is a different affair altogether, to protect Indian skies from any hostile attack, India must be prepared with a credible readiness matrix providing literal, time bound and an affordable test environment.

A SPARROW FOR THE HAWKS

Thankfully & rather interestingly such a system does exist to simulate a realistic Pakistani ballistic missile threat, Israel/US has developed the Sparrow series of target missiles for this very purpose. The Sparrow family of target missiles would be of special significance and interest to India, since this system is specifically designed to simulate the Shahab-3 missile (Iranian ballistic missiles with 1,500-2,000 km range). The Shahab 3 is an adaptation of the versatile but vintage Soviet SCUD system which shares the same technology with the Pakistani Ghauri series (Ghauri-I, II & III) ballistic missiles sourced from North Korea. By Pakistan's own unofficial admission, the technology transfer took place in 1990s from in return of the instructions on enrichment methods for uranium. The Shaheen, Shaheen-1, Shaheen-IA, Shaheen-II & Shaheen-III Chinese origin missiles are also of vintage ancestry.
In September 2013 Israel conducted a successful flight test of the Silver Sparrow, the latest, most advanced version of the Sparrow target missile system. The Silver Sparrow was tracked by the Super Green Pine Radar (DRDO has developed the Swordfish Long Range Tracking Radar an acknowleged version of the Green Pine for target acquisition and guidance), which transferred the information to the Citron Tree Battle Management Control System. All the elements of the system performed according to their operational configuration. The Sparrow targets have a modular warhead section carrying different payloads (selectable according to test mission) such as inert, high explosive or water. The 27.5 (8.39 mw) long missile weighs over three tons.

INVALUABLE SIMULATION

Flexible Test Capabilities

Sparrow targets offer medium to high fidelity threat representation and a comprehensive response to BMD sensor and interceptor test and training requirements. They can be launched above land and over sea, providing test scenario flexibility. The missile can simulate ballistic, barrel roll & maneuvering re-entry types. The target systems are easily adaptable to test range requirements due to adjustable trajectories, telemetry, radar transponders and flight termination system.

Quick Test Readiness

Target mission preparation and verification are quick and simple. Target operational software is easily loaded during pre-flight procedures. This enables a dramatic time reduction in achieving test readiness & defining target descriptions. Black Sparrow simulates unitary short-range theater Ballistic Missiles such as the Ghauri & Shaheen missiles.

Blue and Silver Sparrow simulates unitary and separable medium to long-range theatres. Both targets use the same RV, incorporating a redundant autonomous flight termination system and a 3-axis attitude control system.

EXPLOITING THE WEAKNESSES

The North Korean & Chinese origin missiles in Pakistan's armory are of vintage lineage, the basic foundational development of these missiles started in the 1980s and matured in the early 1990s. The Chinese had terminated most of the old DongFeng missile series before handing it over to the Pakistanis. The guidance system and the terminal phase homing technologies are rather crude and grossly outdated. The missiles are sluggish and would prove easy pickings for both the PDV & AAD interceptors.

The Sparrow cutting edge family of target missiles, though fired from a plane, traces the trajectory of a ground-to-ground or cruise missile, depending on the make. It is used to train antimissile systems and troops, who practice shooting it down.

CONCLUSION

In this context the Sparrow family of target missiles will be a judicious addition to India's BMD program as it will provide invaluable data of the actual re-entry characteristics of hostile missile threats which in turn will help our scientists device an agile, accurate & presumptive hit-to-kill termination system.

Notably unlike in the case of the Arrow system which India wanted to buy from Israel, the United States may not veto the sale of Sparrow missiles to India, as its sale would not violate the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

It may be noted that no nation(s) that have successfully developed the ABM or BMD systems have found it easy to thereafter deploy and consistently maintain these systems for foolproof security of their entire territory – and that includes the USA as well. The same would also be applicable to India after its ambitious BMD program reaches the intended maturity. Because of the exorbitantly high costs, it would at best be able to provide protection to only a small number of its high-value politico-strategic assets, considered to be vital for the Nation’s survival. The very issue of national survival makes it mandatory for India to acquire a complete theater BMD capability, given the policies of two nuclear armed adversaries in its neighborhood

India successfully test-fires advanced interceptor missile

In its effort to have a full fledged multi-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system, India on Sunday, successfully test-fired its indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile, capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile, from a test range off Odisha coast.

“The test conducted to validate various parameters of the interceptor in flight mode has been successful,” Defence Research Development Organisation sources said.

The interceptor was engaged against a target which was a naval version of Prithvi missile launched from a ship anchored inside Bay of Bengal, taking up the trajectory of a hostile ballistic missile.

The target missile was launched at about 11.15 hours and the interceptor, Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile positioned at Abdul Kalam island (Wheeler Island) getting signals from tracking radars, roared through its trajectory to destroy the incoming hostile missile in mid-air, in an endo-atmospheric altitude, the sources said.

Kill effect

“The ‘kill’ effect of the interceptor was ascertained by analysing data from multiple tracking sources,” a DRDO scientist said.

The interceptor is a 7.5-metre-long single stage solid rocket propelled guided missile equipped with a navigation system, a hi-tech computer and an electro-mechanical activator, the DRDO sources said.

The interceptor missile had its own mobile launcher, secure data link for interception, independent tracking and homing capabilities and sophisticated radars, the sources added.

Interceptor missile mission a ‘failure’

Did India lied about ballistic missile intercept test?


The interceptor missile mission, which took place on May 15, was a failure despite claims of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to the contrary. The interceptor never took off to intercept the incoming “enemy” missile which merely fell into the Bay of Bengal, informed sources said.

An agency report on May 16 said a modified Prithvi missile was launched on May 15 from a naval ship in the Bay of Bengal and it mimicked the trajectory of a missile coming from an enemy country.

‘Never took off’

Informed sources, however, said the interceptor missile never took off from the island; so no interception took place at all. “Post-flight analysis is going on. We do not know whether there was problem in detecting the missile, whether radars tracked it and communicated it to the interceptor,” said the sources.

The DRDO developed both the Prithvi missile and the interceptor.

2015 mission failed too.

In April 2015, a similar mission failed after the interceptor dived into the Bay of Bengal a few seconds after lift off. In that mission, the DRDO planned to conduct the test against an electronic target missile. In April 2014, the warhead in the interceptor failed to explode, although the interception of the incoming “enemy” missile took place at an altitude of 120 km.

India conducted a successful anti-satellite missile test

On March 27, 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the nation, reported that a successful anti-satellite missile test was conducted in India. The rocket developed by the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) was launched during the so-called "Shakti" mission from the Abdul Kalam rocket range from the eponymous island off the coast of the Indian state of Orissa in the Bay of Bengal, and hit the Indian satellite target in low Earth orbit, 300 km from Earth. Thus, as stated, India has become the fourth country in the world after the United States, Russia and China, which have anti-satellite weapons.


The launch of the Indian anti-satellite missile PDV Mk II during the anti-satellite test "Shakti" from the Abdul Kalam missile range from the island of the same name off the coast of the Indian state of Orissa in the Bay of Bengal, 03/27/2019 (c) DRDO

According to data from Indian unofficial and western sources, the anti-satellite missile is supposedly called PDV Mk II and represents a variant of the new Indian anti-missile defense system PDV (Prithvi Defense Vehicle) being worked out by the DRDO. PDV is a two-stage solid fuel antimissile based on the Prithvi Mk II tactical missile with an additional solid fuel stage added. From April 2014 to February 2019, India conducted four tests of PDV anti-missile missiles. In turn, the PDV Mk II rocket used in the anti-satellite test on March 27, 2019 has a three-stage rocket, having two solid propellant stages of a new type (of larger diameter). It is assumed that the demonstration of the anti-satellite capabilities of the PDV Mk II is rather a side task, since in fact it is a new version of the anti-missile missile defense system with enhanced power. The PDV is equipped with an over-atmospheric kinetic interceptor with an infrared homing system.

On March 27, the Indian 740-kg military artificial satellite MICROSAT-R (2019-006A), which was launched into space on January 24, 2019 from the Satish-Dhavan cosmodrome by an Indian launch vehicle PLSV, seemed to be a "remote satellite Earth sensing. " It actually circulated in an orbit at an altitude of 260-285 km and at the time of interception was located above the Bay of Bengal at an altitude of 283 km. It is unclear whether this satellite was launched specifically as a target (most likely) or was used as such due to failure (observers reported at the end of February that MICROSAT-R was transferred to a less eccentric orbit with a decrease in the range of orbital altitudes). According to Western data, the satellite was intercepted at about 05:40 am local time on March 27.






The proposed launch of the Indian anti-satellite rocket PDV Mk II and interception of the Indian artificial satellite MICROSAT-R used as a target during the anti-satellite test "Shakti" from the missile range Abdul Kalam from the same-named island off the coast of the Indian state of Orissa in the Bay of Bengal, 03/27/2019. Red marks the maritime "danger zone" declared by the Indian side (c) sattrackcam.blogspot.com



https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3585724.html

DRDO developed 2000 km range Agni 1P canisterized medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) was successfully tested just a while ago. Basically, an equivalent to late DF-21 variants. Maybe better.

An Agni1P-based anti-ship ballistic missile might also emerge.

Today (27th Oct, 2021) India tested the more than 5,000 kms range Agni-5 ballistic missile. Agni-5 is capable of carrying MIRVs. This will make interception difficult for Chinese and certainly Pakistani anti ballistic missile systems.

However, unlike Russia, India has not released the video of the MIRV being launched by the missile.

I would hope that in the future India's geophysical mapping initiatives & ocean satellite altitude systems can further improve accuracy of the Agni-5s MIRV.

Neither Pak nor China possesses any ABM system, so can't even wonder what the heck you talking about.
The real message is, that India caught the 70s. Congrats, can't comment on that further as I was not even born.

India has successfully tested the Agni- Prime ballistic missile that has a max range of 2000 kms.

DRDO stated that the missile is a “two-stage canisterised solid propellant ballistic missile with dual redundant navigation and guidance system”.

ALAMO wrote:Neither Pak nor China possesses any ABM system, so can't even wonder what the heck you talking about.
The real message is, that India caught the 70s. Congrats, can't comment on that further as I was not even born.

Then HQ-9 and S-300 imported from Russia are probably being used for spraying insecticides at far away places....good to know.

Sujoy wrote:
DRDO stated that the missile is a “two-stage canisterised solid propellant ballistic missile with dual redundant navigation and guidance system”.

https://twitter.com/DRDO_India/status/1472109557333725184?s=20

U.S developed these technologies for the Pershing missile back in the 70s.

Nothing special about Agni P.

India becomes the fourth country in the world after Russia, USA and Israel that is capable of exo-atmospheric interception of ballistic missiles after the successful maiden flight-test of Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor AD-1 missile.

AD-1 is a Endo-Atmospheric - Low Exo-Atmospheric BMD Interceptor.