JOUKOVSKI, 13 août - RIA Novosti

La Russie présentera son système d'armes individuel Ratnik en Afrique du Sud lors du salon Africa Aerospace and Defence qui se tiendra à Pretoria du 16 au 21 septembre, a annoncé mercredi Dmitri Semizorov, directeur général de l'Institut central russe de mécanique de précision (TsNIITochMash).

"Je me rendrai en Afrique du sud en septembre. Nous y présenterons l'ensemble du système d'arme modulaire au public d'Afrique du Sud et d'Asie du Sud-est ", a indiqué M.Semizorov lors du salon Oboronexpo-2014 qui se déroule à Joukovski, dans la région de Moscou.

La première mondiale de Ratnik a eu lieu au salon mondial de la Défense et de la Sécurité terrestres et aéroterrestres Eurosatory 2014 à Paris en juin dernier.

Selon M.Semizorov, le soldat du futur russe a suscité un grand intérêt en France. "Ils ont essayé de comparer leur Félin avec nos équipements et Félin n'a pas toujours remporté. Le marché européen est plutôt saturé, mais, fait réjouissant, les utilisateurs des meilleurs systèmes d'armes plébiscitent les équipements russes", a ajouté le responsable.

D'après M.Semizorov, l'adoption des sanctions contre la Russie n'a pas influé sur l'intérêt des militaires étrangers pour les systèmes d'armes russes.

Le système d'arme modulaire du "soldat du futur" Ratnik comprend une cinquantaine d'éléments - des armes d'infanterie, des munitions, un gilet pare-balles, des moyens de communication et de navigation, d'autres dispositifs faisant largement appel aux hautes technologies.

28.11.2012, Guéorgui Vanetsov, Rédaction en ligne - La Voix de la Russie

L'Inde développe depuis plusieurs années son programme de défense antimissile. Le lancement réussi du missile intercepteur AAD de construction indienne depuis le polygone de l'île de Wheeler en est une nouvelle confirmation. Le missile a détruit une cible à une altitude de 15 km au-dessus du golfe de Bengale.

La cible, une modification du missile sol-sol Prithvi, a été lancée depuis le polygone de l'Etat d'Orissa. Pendant les essais, les spécialistes de Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) ont testé pour la première fois la configuration du vol du missile intercepteur. En outre, ils ont testé les capacités du missile intercepteur sur un simulateur électronique spécial. Ils ont simulé le vol d'un missile lancé à une distance de 1 500 km et sa destruction à une altitude de 120 km.

L'Inde, pourra-t-elle créer et déployer son système de défense antimissile en 2015, date qu'elle s'est fixée? La tâche est extrémement compliquée, estime Piotr Topytchkanov, expert au Centre Carnegie de Moscou :

« Cela nécessite des investissements immenses. D'autant plus que l'Inde ne possède pas des radars et un système d'alerte spatiale sur une attaque de missiles depuis l'espace. A l'heure actuelle, seuls deux satellites indiens se trouvent sur l'orbite, dont un seul a une vocation purement militaire. Il est peu probable que ces moyens permettent de détecter le lancement d'un missile, sans parler de plusieurs. Le système sera-t-il efficace contre une attaque depuis le Pakistan, principal sujet de préoccupation pour l'Inde? Pour l'Inde cela revêt d'autant plus d'importance que le vol d'un missile lancé depuis le Pakistan vers une cible sur son territoire ne dure que quelques minutes ».

Les Etats-Unis s'évertuent à mettre à profit les difficultés indiennes. Ils proposent avec insistance à l'Inde leur bouclier antimissile manifestant leur empressement d'aider à mettre en place un système de défense antimissile. Cependant l'Inde fait montre de réserve eu égard à une telle coopération, préférant se fier à ses propres forces en la matière. New Delhi ne veut pas être attachée aux plans géopolitiques américains en Asie. Car une tâche majeure des Etats-Unis est la dissuasion de la Chine. Dans ce cas, la coopération avec les Etats-Unis dans le domaine de la défense antimissile signifierait la destruction d'une confiance fragile entre l'Inde et la Chine à peine amorcée et à laquelle l'Inde tient vivement.

November 23, 2012, zeenews.india.com

Balasore (Odisha): India on Friday successfully test-fired an indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile, capable of destroying a hostile ballistic missile, from a test range off the Odisha coast.

"At around 12.52 hours, the interceptor hit the target missile successfully at an altitude of about 15 kilometres," DRDO spokesman Ravi Kumar Gupta said.

India is working towards development of a multi-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system.

The test was conducted to validate various parameters of the interceptor in flight mode, said a defence source.

The hostile ballistic missile, a modified surface- to-surface 'Prithvi', mimicking an incoming enemy weapon, first lifted off from a mobile launcher at around 12.52 hours from the launch complex-3 of integrated test range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-Sea, about 15 km from here.

Within about four minutes, the interceptor, Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile positioned at Wheeler Island, about 70 km from Chandipur, after getting signals from tracking radars, roared through its trajectory to destroy the incoming missile mid-air, in an "endo-atmospheric" altitude, defence sources said.

"The 'kill' effect of the interceptor is being ascertained by analysing data from multiple tracking sources," a Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist said soon after the test was carried out.

The interceptor is a 7.5-metre-long single-stage solid rocket propelled guided missile equipped with a navigation system, a hi-tech computer and an electro-mechanical activator, the sources said.

The interceptor missile had its own mobile launcher, secure data link for interception, independent tracking and homing capabilities, besides sophisticated radars, the sources added.

The previous trial conducted on February 10, 2012 from the same base was successful.

February 16, 2012: STRATEGY PAGE

For the seventh time, India successfully tested its anti-missile system, intercepting a Prithvi ballistic missile. The AAD interceptor missile was fired from an island 70 kilometers off the coast. The system uses two types of interceptors. The Prithvi Air Defense (PAD) missile is the larger of the two and is used for high altitude (50-80 kilometers up) interception. The short range Advanced Air Defense (AAD) missile is used for low altitude (up to 30 kilometers) intercepts. The two missiles, in conjunction with a radar system based on the Israeli Green Pine (used with the Arrow anti-missile missile), are to provide defense from ballistic missiles fired as far as 5,000 kilometers away. This will provide some protection from Pakistani and Chinese missiles. A third interceptor, the PDV, is a hypersonic missile that can take down missiles as high as 150 kilometers and is still in development. India is the fifth nation to develop such anti-missile technology.

The Indian system has been in development for over a decade. Ten years ago, India ordered two Israeli Green Pine anti-ballistic missile radars. That equipment was used six years ago in a successful Indian test, where one ballistic missile was fired at another, incoming, one. The Israeli Green Pine radar was originally developed for Israel's Arrow anti-ballistic missile system. Arrow was built, in cooperation with the United States, to defend Israel from Iranian and Syrian ballistic missiles. India has since developed, with Israel, the Swordfish radar, which has similar capabilities to the Green Pine and has been operational for two years. Swordfish is part of a system that integrates data from satellites and other sources, in order to detect and track incoming missiles.

The interceptor missiles and the fire control systems were designed and built in India, although more Israeli technology may have been purchased to speed things along. India wanted to buy the entire Israeli Arrow system, but the United States refused to allow the sale (which involved a lot of American technology.) The Indian ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) system is supposed to become operational in two years.

China and Pakistan could only defeat the Indian ABM defenses by firing more missiles, at the same time, than the Indians could handle. It's also possible to equip warheads with decoys, in an attempt to get the interceptor missile to miss. Israel has technology designed to deal with these decoys, and India can probably purchase that. But against an overwhelming number of incoming missiles, some are going to get through.

HYDERABAD, February 5, 2012 Y. Mallikarjun - thehindu.com

India's missile scientists are gearing to conduct an interceptor missile test on February 10 as part of the plans to deploy a two-layered Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system.

This will be the seventh interceptor mission. The exercise is meant to test the capability of the system to kill incoming ballistic missiles with a range of 2,000-3,000 km. Of the six exercises held to date — the first was in November 2006 — five have been successful.

The proposed operation would be closer to the deployable configuration of the system for endo-atmospheric interception, according to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials. During the upcoming mission, the interception of the target missile is planned at an altitude of 15 km in the endo-atmosphere. Four of the interceptor missile tests conducted so far have been in the endo-atmosphere, two in the exo-atmosphere.

Soon after the modified surface-to-surface target missile, Prithvi, is launched from Chandipur, an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile will take off from Wheeler Island to intercept and destroy the incoming projectile, which, after reaching a height of 100 km, will start descending.

Upon Prithvi's launch, the Long-Range Tracking Radars near Puri will start tracking the target. A little later, the Multi Functional Radars located near seaport town Paradip will detect and track the missile and provide data for the guidance computer. This will compute the flight path of the target missile and launch the interceptor at the right time. The interceptor computes the optimal path for the missile to hit the target. In the terminal phase, the radiofrequency seeker will track the target and enable the interceptor to home in on to the target.