NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Trishul final test-firing next week

George Iype in Kochi

The final phase of test firing of India's most sophisticated short-range, quick-reaction surface-to-air missile Trishul will be carried out from the INS Dronacharya in Kochi next week.

A top team of scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation has arrived in Kochi to prepare the launch site.

DRDO officials said that the indigenously-built naval version of Trishul with a range of 50 kilometres has already accomplished targets in the earlier test trails in the last three years.

"The missile has achieved most of its mission objectives when it was test-fired at static targets during the earlier trails. But the current campaign in Kochi will be the most crucial as Trishul will hit a variety of moving targets," a DRDO official told rediff.com.

Trishul, a deadly weapon against aircraft, has a tripe role for the three wings of the defence forces -- the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. In the army version of Trishul, it houses the radar as well as missile launchers on the same platform. For the IAF, the launchers and the radar are on separate wheeled platforms facilitating Trishul to target moving helicopters or aircraft.

In the naval form, Trishul is designed to take on not only aircraft but also sea-skimming anti-ship missiles at 50 kilometres.

The state-of-the-art Trishul that undergoes final test-firing at Kochi is especially designed for the navy's sea-skimming exercise. It uses a radar line-of-sight guidance and is powered by two stages of solid propellants.

DRDO officials claim Trishul is India's indigenous answer to the US Patriots, that made mincemeat of Iraqi Scuds during the 1991 Gulf War.

After the final user-trial phase next week, the Indian Navy will induct Trishul into its armoury by December this year, sources in the navy's southern command said.

Trishul systems will be equipped in all the future fighting ships of the Indian Navy. The vessels will also be equipped with a deck-mounted launcher with missile stores directly beneath in suitable magazines.

Trishul is one of the five indigenous missiles being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation under the multi-million dollar Integrated Guided Missile Development programme. The other missiles under DRDO's missile development programme are Prithvi, Akash, Nag and Agni.

Though a number of flight tests of these missiles have been carried out, the DRDO has been unable to induct most of them into the forces due to technical and command problems.

For instance, the DRDO has been building anti-aircraft missiles -- Trishul and Akash -- for the last 16 years. According to the government's defence plans, these surface-to-air missiles were to have replaced the Russian-supplied OSA-AK and Kvadrat systems by early 1990s. But the DRDO has been unable to meet the deadlines on inducting Trishul and Akash and the Russian missiles continue to be an integral part of the Indian forces.

DRDO began the Trishul project in 1983 and its original deadline of induction into the forces was 1992. DRDO has spent more than nearly Rs 2.60 billion on the missile, but it has been undergoing constant trials as the missile's command guidance did not work as planned by the DRDO.

Now that most of the mission objectives of Trishul have been successfully met, the DRDO hopes that it will be able to induct the country's most sophisticated short-range missiles into the forces by the year-end.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report