India showcases naval ballistic missile defence capability in maiden test

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy on Friday carried out the maiden flight trial of sea-based endo-atmospheric interceptor missile off the coast of Odisha, displaying the country's naval ballistic missile defence (BMD) capabilities to intercept long-range missiles, officials said on Saturday.

"The purpose of the trial was to engage and neutralise a hostile ballistic missile threat, thereby elevating India into the elite club of nations having naval BMD capability," the defence ministry said in a statement.

India has already successfully demonstrated its land-based BMD systems to destroy ballistic missile threats.

Union defence minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, the navy and industry partners involved in the successful demonstration of the ship-based BMD capabilities. DRDO chief Samir V Kamat said the country had achieved self-reliance in developing complex network-centric anti-ballistic missile systems.

India has made significant advances in developing endo-atmospheric and exo-atmospheric intercept systems to destroy incoming hostile missiles within and outside the atmospheric limits, respectively. The two systems have been integrated for a multi-layered defence against ballistic missiles, the officials said.

In November 2022, DRDO successfully tested for the first time a long-range interceptor missile, called AD-1, designed for both exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of ballistic missiles.

India is pursuing its BMD programme in two phases – the first phase has been completed while the second is underway, the officials said. The second phase is for validating intercept systems in a new range category, as previously reported.