India Test Fires Home-Grown Supersonic Interceptor Missile

India has test-fired its locally developed supersonic interceptor missile capable of destroying any incoming enemy ballistic missile at low altitude.

"Today's test launch was conducted in order to validate various parameters of the interceptor in flight mode," a defence official said. He added that it was a low altitude trial, Press Trust of India reported today.

This is the second time that the missile has been test-fired in less than a month and is part of an effort to put in place a multi-layer missile defence system.

The interceptor targeted a Prithvi missile launched from launch complex 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha, taking up the trajectory of a hostile ballistic missile.

After about four minutes the interceptor, Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile positioned at Abdul Kalam Island in the Bay of Bengal, getting signals from tracking radars, roared through its trajectory to destroy the incoming hostile missile in mid-air, in an endo-atmospheric altitude, the official said.