DRDO denies shelving of Project Trishul

New Delhi, Oct 17: The Defence Ministry yesterday clarified that Research and Development (R&D) work on the indegeneous ship defence missile Trishul has not been stopped.

Additional PIO defence ministry Sitanshu Kar said, ''Trishul missile system was taken back in the R&D mode during 2002 for addressing certain technical problems and having overcome this problems 20 flight tests were carried out between June 2003 and mid 2006, the last three trials been conducted in July 2006.'' With this, Trishul's development stands completed, he added.

He said decision on induction is yet to be taken.

The clarifications came after media reports on Saturday quoted officials as saying, R&D work on Trishul will be stopped in December. The reports said instead, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will focus on developing an advanced version of the Israeli Barak missile.

UNI