Sea trials of India’s first floating missile test range to begin this month

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Sea trials of India’s first floating missile (FTR) test range, INS Anvesh, will begin this month and the vessel is expected to enter service in the next two months.

Built by Cochin Shipyard and designed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the nearly 9,000-ton vessel will be used to test missiles up to a range of 1,500 kilometers deep in the Indian Ocean without endangering the population or maritime traffic. to bring. land mass restriction.

India is expected to put at least four ships into service this year, with the ballistic missile tracking vessel INS Dhruv being handed over to the National Research Technical Organization (NTRO) on Sept. 10. Stealth-guided missile destroyer INS Vishakapatnam and diesel attack submarine INS Vela, fourth of the Kalvari class, will also be commissioned by the end of the year.

Once deployed, the FTR will bring INS Anvesh futuristic missile projects up to speed as it will provide a turnkey security corridor without the tedious exercise of issuing NOTAMs to ships and aircraft flying in the area. While the DRDO missile test site on Wheeler Island near Odisha is under the adversaries’ scanner, the FTR will also enable discrete testing of missiles and torpedoes from 400 to 500 nautical miles out to sea.

While only a select group of countries operate FTRs, the DRDO has specific plans to use the ship, equipped with electro-optical missile tracking, S-band radar tracking, telemetry equipment, apart from a launch pad, control and mission control center, for testing its phase II of ballistic missile interceptor missiles (BMD).

The Phase II of the BMD provides for the interception and destruction of enemy missiles up to a range of 2000 kilometers with kinetic power, with the FTR allowing for live testing of the interdictor missiles and not computer simulations.

The FTR will also enable the firing of missiles and torpedoes by the Navy, as well as tactical surface-to-surface missiles with the Indian Army. (Hindustan Times)