ASAT missile
New Delhi, January 26, 2020: From a contingent of women bikers of CRPF performing daredevil stunts and participation of a 'tri-service formation' at the Republic Day parade, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi paying homage to the fallen soldiers at National War Memorial, the Republic Day celebration at the national capital today would witness many firsts.
Marching for the first time in the Republic Day parade will be the contingent of the Corps of Army Air Defence. It will be followed by the Combined Band of Bengal Engineers Group and Centre, Brigade of Guards Training Centre, 3 Electronics and Mechanical Engineers Centre and Madras Regimental Centre.
Anti-Satellite Weapons (ASAT) from Mission Shakti, the Dhanush artillery, the newly-inducted Chinook heavy lift and Apache attack choppers would be at display for the first time during the parade at the majestic Rajpath.
In a first, a contingent of women bikers of CRPF will perform daredevil stunts. The contingent will be led by Inspector Seema Nag, who will be seen saluting while standing atop a moving motorcycle.
It is for the first time that a "Tri-service formation" is taking part in the Republic Day parade. It will be followed by the 'Vic' formation of Chinook helicopters, used for airlifting diverse loads to remote locations.
Breaking from the tradition, Prime Minister Modi will pay homage to the fallen soldiers at the newly built National War Memorial (NWM) at the India Gate, instead of Amar Jawan Jyoti, here on Sunday morning prior to participating in the 71st Republic Day celebrations.
The NWM, which was inaugurated in February last year by PM Modi, has been built in memory of the soldiers who laid down their lives for the country post-independence.
The Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile from Mission Shakti and Air Defence Tactical Control Radar (ADTCR) will be on display during the 71st Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath on Sunday, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has announced.
In a major defence achievement, India had on March 27, last year, successfully tested an anti-satellite missile by shooting down its own decommissioned satellite that was on a 'Low Earth Orbit' at a height of 300-km from the Earth's surface. The satellite was destroyed in a "hit to kill" mode with a 10-centimetre accuracy, with the satellite and the missile approaching each other at a high speed of nearly 11 km per second.
The covert technology of Hit to Kill developed for the first time by India for such applications enables it to destroy an enemy satellite by directly colliding with it with pin-point accuracy.
The successful demonstration has placed India at par with the elite club of three nations, US, Russia, and China that possess this capability.
The DRDO conceptualised, designed, integrated and successfully tested the system in a record time of two years.
ADTCR, the second equipment of the DRDO which will be on display during the parade, is used for volumetric surveillance, detection, tracking and friend/foe identification of aerial targets of different types and transmission of prioritised target data to multiple command posts/weapon systems.
The radar is capable of detecting very small and low flying targets. The system employs state of the art Active Phased Array Technology with Digital Beam Formatting.
The radar system including 4D Radar, power and cooling systems, operator shelter, communication equipment etc are configured on two high mobility vehicles. The Radar can be deployed in the plain areas, deserts and in the mountain regions and is employed for tactical early warning for ground-based weapon systems.