14 Mar : Test-fire of India’s indigenously built Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile, capable of destroying hostile in-coming ballistic missiles, was postponed today at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island off the Orissa’s east coast.
The trial, scheduled for the day, was postponed due to some technical snag in the sub-system at the Wheeler Island and there was no problem with the missiles, official sources said.
The next date for the test, aimed at developing a full- fledged multi-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system, would be decided shortly after the problem was sorted out by experts, they said.
The test-fire was proposed to be carried out from two different launch sites of the ITR.
The target missile, a modified indigenously built Prithvi was to first lift off from a mobile launcher from the ITR’s launch complex at Chandipur-on-sea, 15 km from here.
Minutes later the interceptor missile would have blasted off from the Wheeler’s Island, about 70 km across the sea from Chandipur, to intercept it at an altitude of 15 to 20 km in mid-air over the waters.
The DRDO has already test fired the interceptor missile thrice on 27th November 2006, 6th December 2007 and 6th March 2009 from the Wheeler Island.