India Friday successfully testfired its home-made supersonic Advanced Air Defense (AAD) interceptor missile from a defense base off the coast of the eastern state of Odisha, highly placed sources said.
"The testfiring was part of India's efforts to create a missile defense shield against incoming enemy missiles. The AAD interceptor missile, which was fired from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast, successfully destroyed mid-air an incoming ballistic missile launched from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur, about 70 kms from the Wheeler Island," the sources said.
India's state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization's chief VK Saraswat supervised the launch, the sources said, adding that the interceptor missile is a 7.5-meter- long single-stage solid rocket propelled guided missile equipped with a hi-tech navigation system.
India has been developing interceptor missiles as part of its plans to protect major cities from enemy missile invasions, and the last testfiring of such a missile in February this year was also successful.