INDIA is gearing up to deploy, in 2013 or 2014, a ballistic missile defense (BMD) shield around the capital New Delhi and around strategic assets such as the commercial capital Mumbai and political targets such as residences of top political leaders. In Phase II of the project, long-range radars and more powerful interceptors will be developed to engage enemy missiles launched from more than 2,000 kilometers away. More importantly, Indias BMD shield can take care of multiple attacker missiles by launching multiple interceptor missiles simultaneously. A ship-based platform is also being planned to launch the interceptors.
Enviable record
The Defense Research and Development Organisations (DRDO) top-brass, V.K. Saraswat and Avinash Chander, made these announcements within a couple of hours of the resounding success of the interceptor missile launch on November 23. The DRDO has an enviable record in its interceptor missile tests. Out of eight tests, beginning from November 27, 2006, to the latest one, seven have been unvarnished successes.
Soon after the success of the seventh test on February 10, 2012, Saraswat, Director General, DRDO, who is Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, asserted: The mission was done in deployment mode, close to the final user [the Army] configuration
. Its success confirms that the country is ready to take it to the next phase of production and induction ( Frontline, March 9, 2012). Avinash Chander, Chief Controller R&D (Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO, was equally assertive on February 10: The entire operation was close to the deployment configuration, he said. D.S. Reddy, then Programme Director, Advanced Air Defence (AAD), said the test proved that India had graduated from experimental mode to deployment mode.
