Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme
The Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect India from ballistic missile attacks. It was launched in 1999 after the Kargil War by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Testing was carried out and continuing as of 2006, and the system was expected to be operational within four years according to the head of the country's missiles development programme, Vijay Kumar Saraswat.
Introduced in light of the ballistic missile threat from Pakistan and China, it is a double-tiered system consisting of two land and sea-based interceptor missiles, namely the Prithvi Air Defence missile for High Altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence Missile for lower altitude interception. The two-tiered shield should be able to intercept any incoming missile launched from 5,000 kilometres away. The system also includes an overlapping network of early warning and tracking radars, as well as command and control posts.
The PAD was tested in November 2006, followed by the AAD in December 2007. With the test of the PAD missile, India became the fourth country to have successfully developed an anti-ballistic missile system, after the United States, Russia, and Israel. The system has undergone several tests but system is yet to be officially commissioned.
As per reports emerged in January 2020, the first phase of BMD program is now complete. The Indian Air Force and the Defence Research and Development Organisation are awaiting for Government of India approval to install the missile shield around the national capital, which will take three to four years for installation post approval. It is one of the component of Mission Sudarshan Chakra.
Background
Since the early 90s, India has faced the threat of ballistic missile attacks from Pakistan against which it has fought multiple wars in the past and also from China. With the heightening of tensions in the region, and in response to Pakistan's deployment of M-11 missiles bought from China, the Indian Government in August 1995 procured six batteries of S-300 Surface-to-air missiles to protect New Delhi and other cities. In May 1998, India for the second time tested nuclear weapons, followed by Pakistan with its first-ever nuclear test. With Pakistan's testing of nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, this threat intensified. India has also developed and tested missile delivery systems during Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.In 1999, the Kargil War between India and Pakistan became the first direct conflict between two declared nuclear powers. As the war progressed, the first hint of the possible use of a nuclear weapon was on 31 May, when Pakistani foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmad made a statement warning that an escalation of the limited conflict could lead Pakistan to use "any weapon" in its arsenal. This was immediately interpreted as an obvious threat of a nuclear retaliation by Pakistan in the event of an extended war. The leader of Pakistan's senate noted that "the purpose of developing weapons becomes meaningless if they are not used when they are needed." Some experts believe that following nuclear tests in 1998, the Pakistani military was emboldened by its nuclear deterrent cover to markedly increase coercion against India.
Development of an anti-ballistic missile system began in late 1999, suggesting that India initiated the programme in light of Pakistan's eschewing of a nuclear No first use policy and heightened tensions during the Kargil War including a possibility of full-scale nuclear war. Development accelerated after Washington vetoed a bid by India to acquire the Israeli Arrow-2 interceptor in 2002.
Phase-I of the system will enable interception of missiles up to a 2,000-km range, which will be extended to 5,000-km+ range in Phase-II.
Development
Phase 1
Development of the anti-ballistic missile system began in 1999. Around 40 public and private companies were involved in the development of the systems. They include Ordnance Factory Board, Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Dynamics among others.Defence Research and Development Laboratory developed the mission control software for the AAD missile. Research Centre Imarat developed navigation, electromechanical actuation systems and the active radar seeker. Advanced Systems Laboratory provided the motors, jet vanes and structures for the AAD and PAD. High Energy Materials Research Laboratory supplied the propellants for the missile. Research Centre Imarat and Programme Air Defence at Hyderabad are spearheading the Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme.
By April 2019, the Phase-1 of the program was completed.
Phase 2
Two new anti ballistic missiles that can intercept IRBMs and ICBMs are being developed. These high speed missiles are being developed to intercept ballistic missiles with a range of around. The new missile will be similar to the missile deployed by Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. These missiles will travel at hypersonic speeds and will require radars with scan capability of over to successfully intercept the target.On 6 May 2012, Dr. V. K. Saraswat confirmed the completion of Phase-I and added that Phase-II was planned to be completed by 2016 to protect against missiles having range up to 5,000 km, and intercept missiles which are capable of hypersonic speeds above Mach 5.
India is also planning to develop a laser-based weapon system as part of its defence to intercept and destroy missiles soon after they are launched towards the country. DRDO's Air Defence Programme Director V. K. Saraswat says its ideal to destroy a ballistic missile carrying nuclear or conventional warheads in its boost phase. Saraswat further added that it will take another 10–15 years for the premier defence research institute to make it usable on the ground.
Missiles
The two-tiered BMD System consists of the PAD, which will intercept missiles at exo-atmospheric altitudes of and the AAD missile for interception at endo-atmospheric altitudes of up to. The deployed system would consist of many launch vehicles, radars, Launch Control Centres and the Mission Control Centre. All these are geographically distributed and connected by a secure communication network.The MCC is the software intensive component of the ballistic missile defence system. It receives information from various sources such as radars and satellites which is then processed by ten computers which run simultaneously. The MCC is connected to all other elements of the defence through a WAN. The MCC performs target classifications and assignment as well as kill assessments. It also acts as a decision support system for the commander. It can also decide the number of interceptors required for the target for an assured kill probability. After performing all these functions, the MCC assigns the target to the LCC of a launch battery. The LCC starts computing the time to launch the interceptor based upon information received from a radar based on the speed, altitude and flight path of the target. The LCC prepares the missile for launch in real time and carries out ground guidance computation.
After the interceptor is launched, it is provided target information from the radar through a datalink. When the interceptors close onto the target missile, it activates the radar seeker to search for the target missile and guides itself to intercept the target. Multiple PAD and AAD interceptors can be launched against a target for high kill probability.
Phase 1
Prithvi Air Defence (PAD)
The Prithvi Air Defence, also known as Pradyumna Ballistic Missile Interceptor is an anti-ballistic missile developed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere. Based on the Prithvi missile, PAD is a two-stage missile with a maximum interception altitude of. The first stage is a Solid fuelled motor while the second stage is Liquid fuelled. It has manoeuvre thrusters which can generate a lateral acceleration of more than 5 gs at altitude. Guidance is provided by an internal navigation system with mid-course updates from LRTR and active radar homing in the terminal phase. PAD has capability to engage the class of ballistic missiles at a speed of Mach 5. PAD is fast enough to hit medium-range ballistic missiles and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.LRTR is the target acquisition and fire control radar for the PAD missile. It is an active phased array radar having the capability to track 200 targets at a range of. The PAD missile has also been called Pradyumna.
Further development led to the improvement of the interception range from. The improved missile will utilise a gimbaled directional warhead, a technology also used by Israel, the US and Russia. This technology allows for a smaller warhead to destroy the target missile.
The second stage of the PAD uses liquid rocket propellant, which corrodes fuel tanks when stored for long, the PAD could not be on standby 24×7. Instead, it would need to be filled up during a period of crisis in anticipation of trouble. This is less than optimal for a weapon intended to defend against an attack at any moment.
Prithvi Air Defence Exercise
The PADE was conducted in November 2006 in which a PAD missile successfully intercepted a modified Prithvi-II Missile at an altitude of. The Prithvi-II ballistic missile was modified successfully to mimic the trajectory of M-11 missiles.
The DRDO plans to test the anti-ballistic shield against missiles with a range of. The test will be conducted with a modified Prithvi missile launched from a naval ship and the anti-ballistic missile launched from Abdul Kalam Island. The interception of the target missile will take place at approximately altitude.
On 6 March 2009 the DRDO carried out a second successful test of the PAD interceptor missile. The target used was a ship launched Dhanush missile which followed the trajectory of a missile with range of a. The target was tracked by Swordfish radar and destroyed by the PAD at altitude.
On 6 March 2011 DRDO successfully test-fired an interceptor missile from the Advanced Air Defence system which destroyed a 'hostile' target ballistic missile, a modified Prithvi, at an altitude of 16 km over the Bay of Bengal. The Advanced Air Defence missile positioned at Abdul Kalam Island, about 70 km across sea from Chandipur, received signals from tracking radars installed along the coastline and travelled through the sky at a speed of Mach 4.5 to destroy it.