India might have a ‘killer’ missile soon. After a long wait, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is contemplating conducting the first test of its newly developed interceptor missile from a defence base off Odisha coast next month.

The missile, dubbed as Prithivi Defence Vehicle (PDV), has the potential to destroy enemy missile with a strike range of around 2,500 km outside the earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of over 150 km. Only a few countries in the world have such capability.

The air defence exercise, a part of India’s Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system, would involve two missiles -the interceptor and enemy missile. Both the missiles have been developed for the first time and will be programmed at separate locations at Chandipur and Wheeler Island in Balasore district of Odisha.

According to sources, while the enemy missile would be fired from a naval warship in the Bay of Bengal, the interceptor would be launched from the launching complex-IV at Wheeler Island.

“The test is likely to be conducted any time between December 20 and December 27,” the source said.

Earlier, DRDO had successfully test-fired exo-atmospheric (outside the atmosphere) and endo-atmospheric (within the atmosphere) interceptor ballistic missiles. Of the seven interceptor missile test, six have been successful. While two were in exo-atmosphere region, five took place in endo-atmosphere (below an altitude of 50 km).

“Prithivi Air Defence (PAD) interceptor missile has already demonstrated its killing capability at an altitude of 50 to 80 km range. The Advance Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile has destroyed the target missile at an altitude of 15 to 30 km. Now we want to achieve the interception altitude of over 150 km,” a defence scientist said.

The two-staged PDV interceptor will be powered by solid propellants and fitted to an innovative system for controlling the vehicle at an altitude of more than 150 km.

A scientist associated with the PDV project said that the focus was now to achieve the killing precision at the highest altitude with the help of advanced software for which the DRDO would achieve a direct-to-kill on the target missile.