The Indian Navy on Wednesday achieved a major milestone in boosting its anti-air warfare capability with the maiden successful firing of Barak-8 long range surface-to-air missile(lRSAM) from destroyer INS Kolkata in Arabian Sea near Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The missile, jointly developed by India and Israel, can hit an incoming hostile aircraft or missile at a range of more than 80 km and at a height of 16 km. US, France, Britain and Israel are the only other countries in the world to have this capability.

After undergoing some more tests, these missiles costing more than Rs 2,700 crore will be fitted on all future warships to provide them a sound anti-air warfare net. Moreover, the Barak-8s will form a protective shield around battle carrier groups with the aircraft carrier playing the lead role. In lay man term, it means the enemy will find it difficult to target the aircraft carrier as the lRSAMs will neutralise incoming missile or aircraft at long range.

While the Indian Navy conducted two successful tests of this missile on two successive days including Tuesday and Wednesday, Israel test fired the weapon system from one of its ship in Israel last week, officials said here.

The Indian test involved firing the missile from INS Kolkata and it successfully intercepted an aerial target at extended ranges. Apart from the missile, the system includes a Multi Functional Surveillance and Threat Alert Radar (MF STAR) for detection, tracking and guidance of the missile. The firing trial of the lRSAM was jointly conducted by the Navy, Defence Research and Development Organis-ation(DRDO)and Israel Aerospace Industries(IAI).  Public sector Bharat Dynamics limited has manufactured the missile.

Designed to defend against a variety of short-to-long -range airborne threats, including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, drones and projectiles, Barak-8 incorporates phased array multi-mission radar, two-way data link, and a flexible command and control system, enabling users to simultaneously engage multiple targets day and night.

The Barak system will be the mainstay of warships and nearly 20 of them will get it shortly, officials. Each ship will carry 32 such missiles and radar of this system can detect hostile movement at more than 400 km thereby giving ample time for taking evasive action.  These lRSAMs can also neutralize sea skimming supersonic missiles which are difficult to detect. Aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and under construction ship INS Vikrant will also be fitted with Barak-8.