India test-flies indigenous AD-1 missile

India's DRDO conducted a maiden flight test of the Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence interceptor known as the AD-1 missile from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha on 2 November. The DRDO said that the missile has the ability to intercept targets within a range of 5,000 km. (Indian MoD)

India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has conducted a maiden flight test of the Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor known as the AD-1 missile, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

According to a press release by the MoD on 2 November, the test was conducted with a “large kill altitude bracket” from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the northeastern coast of Odisha.

A DRDO source told Janes that the AD-1 is a “track and shoot in the air” system.

“The system can detect incoming missiles and shoot them down in the air. In Phase 1 of the BMD, the DRDO developed the ability to destroy missiles within a range of 2,000 km,” the source said.

With the current test, “the DRDO has achieved the ability to intercept missiles within a range of 5,000 km”, the source added.

Janes learnt that the latest test was conducted to demonstrate and validate the performance of the AD-1 missile subsystem.

The AD-1 interceptor is the endo-atmospheric and low exo-atmospheric component of India's Phase-II BMD programme.

The system is designed to intercept missiles such as the Chinese DF-16, DF-17, and DF-21, as well as aircraft manoeuvring at long range.

The AD-1 missile consists of two main components – the main missile, commonly known as the ‘dart', and the propulsion section.