January 31, 2002	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 16, 1422

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NEW DELHI, Jan 30: India’s defence ministry said on Wednesday it had carried out successful tests of the naval variant of its homegrown surface to air missile “Trishul” in southern India.

“The missile was tested in sea-skimming mode against low flying targets,” the defence ministry statement said. During the exercise which lasted six days, two missiles were fired successfully and they met “all the desired parameters for this particular series,” a defence ministry spokesman said.

The “Trishul” (Trident) is a short range, quick reaction, all weather missile designed to counter a low-level attack.

It has a range of nine kilometres and is fitted with a 5.5kg fragmented warhead. The missile has high manoeuvrability and is powered by a two-stage solid propellant system.

Trishul is one of the five missiles developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme launched in 1983.

Only last week, India tested a short-range variant - developed with Pakistan in mind — of its intermediate range “Agni” ballistic missile. —AFP