India test-fires surface-to-air missile for second day

Balasore (Odisha), July 1

India on Friday successfully test-fired the new surface-to-air missile, developed jointly with Israel, with a strike range up to 70 km, from a defence base off Odisha coast, a day after two rounds of similar trials were conducted.

“The test was successful. With this, the DRDO has created history by conducting three consecutive trials of the medium range missile successfully in two days,” a DRDO official said.

The test was conducted to validate various parameters and it met the mission requirements. The missile was test-launched successfully twice on Thursday, he said.

The medium range missile (MR-SAM) for the IAF was successfully test-launched from a mobile launcher in the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur at around 10.26 am, a DRDO official said.

The missile, positioned at launch pad-3 of the ITR, swung into action after getting signal from the radars to intercept a pilotless target aircraft (PTA) over the Bay of Bengal, officials said.

Apart from the missile, the system included a Multi Functional Surveillance and Threat Alert Radar (MF STAR) for detection, tracking and guidance of the missile, they said.

“The missile, along with MF-STAR, will provide the users with the capability to neutralise any aerial threats,” said a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist.

A laboratory of DRDO based at Hyderabad has jointly developed this missile in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), he said.

Earlier, Indian Navy had successfully test-launched the long range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM). The test had been undertaken on the Western Seaboard by INS Kolkata on December 30, 2015, officials said.

Such type of medium-range surface-to-air missiles having striking ranges from 50 km to 70 km, could fill the gap of existing missiles that India had in its armoury, they said.

As a safety measure, Balasore district administration in consultation with the defence officials had temporarily shifted 3,652 civilians residing within 2.5 km radius of the launch pad No. 3 of the ITR at Chandipur to nearby shelter centres on Friday morning to ensure a safe launch of the missile, a district revenue official said.

Fishermen along the Bay of Bengal in three Odisha coastal districts, namely Balasore, Bhadrakh and Kendrapada, were asked not to venture into the sea during the time of the test launch. PTI