Israel tests missile co-developed with India

For the first time, Israeli military has successfully tested from a ship an advanced surface-to-air missile co-developed with India which will be deployed to secure vital offshore assets like gas fields.

“In the first-of-its-kind operation test yesterday a Barak 8 missile fired from an Israeli Navy ship successfully intercepted an enemy target registering 100 per cent success,” Israeli military sources told PTI.

The Barak 8 was tested from a ship for the first time and intercepted a small drone simulating an enemy craft. The system extends the range of Israel’s aerial defence and should be operational in about two years. 

INS Kolkata is the Indian ship likely to be used for the testing as the launchers and radars to track missiles are already installed on the vessel. The missile is being jointly developed by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), and Israeli companies. 

On the side-lines of this, India today successfully test-fired indigenously built nuclear-capable Agni-I missile, capable of hitting a target at a distance of 700 km, from a test range off the Odisha coast as part of Strategic Forces Command (SFC) training exercise. The surface-to-surface, single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, was test-fired from a mobile launcher at 1002 hours from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island (Wheeler Island). 

The trial was “part of training exercise by Strategic Forces Command of Indian Army”, defence sources said, noting it was a “perfect launch”. “The exercise was conducted in a perfect manner and the trial was successful,” they said. “The launch was undertaken as a part of periodic training activity by SFC to further consolidate operational readiness,” the sources said. 

Agni-I was developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory, the premier missile development laboratory of DRDO in collaboration with Defence Research Development Laboratory and Research Centre Imarat and integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad. The last trial of Agni-I, conducted on Sept 11, 2014 from the same base, was also successful.