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PM watches anti-missile system in action

Breaking from routine, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday made a foray into the high seas with men in battle blues to witness firsthand efforts being undertaken by the armed forces to combat the threat of missiles.

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ON BOARD INS VIRAAT: Breaking from routine, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday made a foray into the high seas with men in battle blues to witness firsthand efforts being undertaken by the armed forces to combat the threat of missiles.
    
On his first-ever day at sea after taking over as prime minister, he witnessed a day and night war manoeuvre in the turbulent Arabian seas off the coast of Goa, including live long range surface-to-surface missile firings and their interception by anti-missile systems.
    
Power-packed naval fast speed missile Corvettes fired their surface-to-surface missiles at dummy targets and the navy's Israeli acquired anti-missile system Barak tracked, intercepted and neutralised them, as the prime minister, naval chief Admiral Arun Prakash and naval top brass watched from the decks of the navy's flagship carrier INS Viraat.
    
The navy has now installed this anti-missile system in seven of its frontline warships to give them invincibility against missiles.
    
New Delhi is evaluating American and Russian land-based systems to give the country an anti-missile defence shield.
 
Prakash and National Security Advisor M K Narayanan said the prime minister had been "immensely impressed" by the navy's grasp of this crucial technology.
 
Narayanan, who is the key interlocutor with the United States on security matters, said, "We have been looking at Barak system for a long time. The interception was awesome".
 
On India's efforts to acquire a quick reaction anti- missile system, Narayanan merely said, "We still have a long way to go".
 
The sight of the missile-to-missile interception was truly spellbinding. The indigenous made Ganga Class Missile Corvette fired the missile like a ball of fire in a dark night as the prime minister and the nation's other policy-makers watched in suspense its rise at a distance.
 
The entire party held their breath till the Israeli-made Barak Missile was fired and intercepted the surface-to-surface missile neutralising it with a massive explosion in the sky.
    
Besides the missile interception, Singh witnessed manoeuvres by Kilo Class submarines, demonstrations by missile boats, anti-submarine rocket firing, multi-ship replenishment and air power demonstrations over the high seas by naval sea Harrier fighters, Sea King and the just acquired Kamov 31 helicopters.
 
Flying in from Goa, the prime minister and his entourage began the day at sea with high-level briefings by top naval commanders on their concept of operations and threat perception in the volatile Arabian Sea and the adjoining
Persian sea and Gulf of Homruz.
 
Singh was impressed when told that the special naval manoeuvres were being led by a new generation of indigenously developed warships, which during joint exercises with highly powerful western navies had created a niche for themselves.
 
After showcasing dazzling sea dominance skills in the day manoeuvres, the navy put up an awesome air and fire power display towards sunset.
 
The versatile Sea Harriers carried out high speed runs at more than 1000 kmph and fired flares to demonstrate their skills in warding off heat seeking land-to-air missiles.
    
The day manoeuvres climaxed with a dazzling flypast by aircraft in the Navy's armoury. Heading the airshow were the navy's Chetak and Kamov 31, mini AWACS and the planes which took part included the navy's maritime reconnaissance aircraft TU-142M and recently upgraded IL-38 aircraft.
 
Live surface-to-surface missile firing and their interception by anti-missiles brought the curtains down on the prime minister's day at sea.
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