The Indian government Wednesday said a re-trial of the Israeli acquired Barak anti-missile was being scheduled shortly on board Indian naval warships as earlier trials had been declared "unsatisfactory." 

Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said in Rajya Sabha (Upper House) that although the target was successfully shot down during trials before fitting the anti-missile system to more naval warships, it was declared unsatisfactory because of certain technical malfunctioning.

He said the malfunctions noted during the trials had been examined by Israeli experts and a new round of trials were being scheduled.

On surface to air missiles, Fernandes said that India was still importing these missiles from Russia. However, he declined to comment on whether the country was still not self-sufficient in indigenous air attack missile defense system, citing that the information was of sensitive nature and could not be divulged.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2003