Prithvi Air Defense Interceptor (left) and the new Prithvi Defense Vehicle. (Photo : DRDO)
India announced a second successful interception of a target ballistic missile in the exoatmosphere by a new missile interceptor called the "Prithvi Defense Vehicle (PDV)," which will replace the existing Prithvi Air Defense (PAD) interceptor as India's high altitude defense missile.
The Ministry of Defense revealed the classified test took place Feb. 11 off the Bay of Bengal. The target ballistic missile played the role of an incoming enemy ballistic missile and was launched from a ship in the Bay of Bengal. The PDV interceptor was launched from Kalam Island.
The ministry said that with this "commendable scientific achievement, India has crossed an important milestone in building its overall capability towards enhanced security against incoming ballistic missile threats."
A ranking official of the Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO), which is developing the PDV, was quoted by Indian media as saying that PDV was designed to engage targets in the exoatmosphere region at an altitude above 50 kilometers.
The official also said both the "PDV interceptor and the two-stage target missile were successfully engaged."
DRDO said PDV is a two-stage, solid fuel missile. PDV will replace the PAD in the Indian Ballistic Missile Defense Program, which is India's main defense system against ballistic missile attacks from Pakistan and China.
The Indian Ballistic Missile Defense Program is a multi-layered ballistic missile defense system that protects India from ballistic missile attacks. It's a two-tiered system currently consisting of a land and sea-based interceptor missiles: PAD for high altitude interception and the Advanced Air Defense (AAD) missile for low altitude interception. PDV is designed to destroy ballistic missile at altitudes above 150 km.
India is confident this two-tiered shield will be able to intercept incoming missiles launched from 5,000 kilometers away, which means missiles launched from the region around Beijing.
PDV was first successfully tested on April 27, 2014. The second successful test took place this Feb. 11.
