India on Thursday successfully test-fired a medium-range surface-to-air ballistic missile, developed jointly with Israel, off the coast of Odisha, officials said.
The missile, having a strike range of 70 km, is designed to defend any airborne threat, including aircraft and helicopters, and can also intercept supersonic aircraft and missiles.
The missile has been jointly developed by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Israel Aerospace Industries and Israel's Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure.
The missile was fired for its maiden testing from launch pad 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore district at 8.16 a.m.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar tweeted: "I congratulate DRDO India and industry teams for the successful flight test of MRSAM (Medium Range Surface to Air Missile) weapon system."
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According to informed sources, the missile is a version of the Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM) Barak-8 and is yet to get a name.
It is being developed for the Indian Air Force.
The system also includes a multi-functional surveillance and threat alert radar for tracking, detection and guidance of the missile.
As a precaution, authorities had evacuated villagers living in a radius of one to 2.5 km around the launch complex.
--IANS
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