Breaking from his routine, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday made a foray into the high seas with the men in battle blues to witness first hand the 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, Dr Singh witnessed a day and night war manoeuvre in the turbulent Arabian sea off the coast of Goa, including live long range surface-to-surface missile firing and their interception by anti-missile systems.
Power packed naval fast speed missile Corvette fired their surface-to-surface missiles at dummy targets and Indian
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 deck of the Indian Navy's flagship carrier INS Viraat.
Indian Navy has now installed this anti-missile system in seven of its frontline warships to give them invincibility against incoming missiles.
New Delhi is currently also evaluating American and Russian land-based systems to give the country an anti-missile defence shield.
Naval Chief Admiral Arun 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 interlocuter with the US on security matters, said, "We have been looking at the 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.
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, Dr Singh also witnessed manoeuvres by Kilo Class submarines, demonstrations by missile boats, anti-submarine rocket firing, multi-ship replenishment and air power demonstrations over high seas by Naval Sea Harrier fighters, Sea King and the just acquired Kamov 31 helicopters.
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