INS Dhruv: India’s missile tracking ship, ensuring the country’s strategic might

Operation Sindoor and the conflict in West Asia have shown the importance of missiles in modern conflict. India, too, is expanding its impressive arsenal of long-range weapons. At the same time, lessons from these conflicts also demonstrate the importance of defence against these very systems.To improve both the defences against this system and to improve the efficiency of these systems, a great amount of academic exercises are conducted by scientists. These academic processes are validated using the telemetry data collected during missile tests. In India, these tests, especially of the long-range systems is carried out over the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) located at Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast.To study the performance of the missile, a host of ground-based radars are used. As the missiles fly mostly over water, these projectiles are tracked by INS Dhruv. This ship can gather electronic intelligence and is used to track the country’s strategic weapons and also aids in tests of the anti-ballistic missile system. This ship is equipped with long-range radars and other systems that can detect the launch of these missiles that travel at hypersonic speeds. This vessel can also provide early warning of such launches and thereby increase the reaction time for systems that can counter this threat.The ship can also track Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, this type of space-based asset is used for reconnaissance and communication. India has anti-satellite capability and the ability to track satellites of inimical powers gives the armed forces a critical edge.Due to the sensitive nature and the cutting-edge technology deployed on the ship, it is crewed by individuals from the navy, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Other countries use similar systems to track missile telemetry. The Chinese regularly send their Yuan Wang class of ships to track Indian missile tests. Pakistanis have made the PNS Rizwan with help from China. USNS Howard O. Lorenzen carries out the task for the US Navy and France deploys FS Monge. The Russians currently don’t have a similar platform, but have deployed similar ships in the past. India is in a select group of countries that have deployed such vessels.