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India’s prestigious ‘Prithvi’ anti ballistic missile system which is being indigenously produced is ready to test fire incoming missiles in the exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric region simultaneously.
The ‘Prithvi’ Air Defence (PAD-1) is being developed by state-owned Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) with the help of Israel. DRDO officials said that simultaneous tests of PAD-1 will be held in December 2008 when ballistic missiles will be targeted at a height of 40 kilometres using an exo-atmospheric Prithvi Air Defence System (PADS) and then also hit the falling debris with the endo-atmospheric interceptor between 15 and 30 kilometres. Similar exercises had been undertaken in 2006-07 with a high success rate and several more will be conducted before its induction in 2011.
The PAD-1 system is a unique system which has two stages. The first stage of the surface to air missiles in the air defence system is a liquid stage made up of propellants and oxidizers. The fuel burns in the chamber and the heat and gases that are emitted produce the necessary thrust. The second stage is a solid stage and includes a seeker performing guidance system.
DRDO officials indicated that the speed of PAD-1 is between 4.5 to 5 mach and the system is capable to engage 300- 2000 km class of ballistic missiles. In the battery of PAD-1, there are long range radars, missile launchers, Mission Control Centers and other ground systems. The complete network of radars, launch batteries, missiles control centers launch control centers are geographically distributed and are connected to very potent secure communication network.
The Radar of PAD-1 seeks a particular elevation to detect incoming ballistic missiles. This information is transferred to Mission Control Center (MCC) which then decides whether it is a missile interceptor or a satellite or any other projectile and classifies it. When target is classified, the MCC also calculates where the impact point of the target is likely to be and where it is going to fall. After the target classification, it also finds the trajectory profile and speed and then assigns the target to a particular battery. Once this is done, the control goes to Launch Control Centre (LCC) which keeps on getting data from the radar directly and then it decides when to launch the interceptor. This is decided on the basis of the data received from radar, speed of target, altitude and flight path.
The LCC is a critical feature and is the basic hub for launch of the interceptor. After a target has been assigned to a particular battery, LCC starts computing when to launch the interceptor based upon the information received from the radars about the target. It carries out the checking of the health of the missile, preparation of the missile for launch in real time and ground guidance computation.
After an interceptor is launched, it is provided information about the target through an uplink. The target real time data is transmitted through a communication network. The launch of the interceptor is decided on the distance. If a radar has spotted a target, the interceptor will be launched within about 180 sec, but this will vary with different missile ranges. The radar is deployed from complete 3600.
The long range active phased array radar, Green Pine Radar, has been jointly developed between DRDO and Israel and has the capability to track 200 targets at a range of about 600 km. The radar can track the target and the interceptor also. The complete software for doing the tracking and engagement of ballistic missiles which includes complete software for signal processing transmitter receiver modules, Central Power Units (CPU) and complete ground segment like cooling units, power supplies and the communication network has been created by DRDO.
The PAD-I system will have inputs from 30 private & state owned companies which will manufacture various subsystems of this missile and weapon system. While the radar will be made with consortium of state owned Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the missile & sub-systems are being made by several private industries and the state owned Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL).
India is also developing PAD-2 which will involve the use of hypersonic missiles and the ballistic missile can be killed at a range of over 100 kilometers in the exo-atmospheric region.
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