11-Feb-2017: India conducts successful test on Prithvi interceptor missile.

India successfully test-fired it's gen-next state-of-the-art interceptor missile from a defence base off Odisha coast recently, achieving a significant milestone in its ongoing Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) programme.

From detection to interception, the entire exercise was fully automated and there was no human intervention. The PDV interceptor is a part of a multi-layered BMD system developed by India to protect its cities from hostile attacks.

Prithvi Defence Vehicle is the interceptor indigenously developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It is capable of intercepting an incoming missile with a strike range of around 2,000 km outside the earth’s atmosphere. India is the fifth nation in the world to have a robust Ballistic Missile Defence system other than US, Russia, Israel and China.

The advantage of intercepting an incoming missile at such a high altitude is that the debris would not fall on the ground and there would be no collateral damage.

DRDO has successfully test fired both exo-atmospheric (outside the atmosphere) and endo-atmospheric (within the atmosphere) interceptor ballistic missiles. Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) interceptor missile has already demonstrated its killing capability at an altitude of 50 km and 80 km while the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile has destroyed the target at an altitude of 15 km to 30 km.

This was the 12th test of interceptor missile and the second test of PDV in the last three years. The first test of the missile was conducted on April 27, 2014. Earlier, eight of the 11 tests were conducted in the endo-atmospheric region (below the altitude of 30 km) and three in exo-atmosphere (above an altitude of 80 km). Altogether, nine tests have been successful.

DRDO started developing the BMD system in 1999, with the help of around 40 public and private companies.