A medium range surface to air missile (MRSAM), jointly developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) of Israel, was successfully test-fired twice on Thursday off Odisha coast. The missile will be inducted into the IAF and Army after more trials in the coming months. The Naval version is already deployed on frontline warships of the Navy.
The missile, capable of hitting a target at more than 50 km, was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off Odisha coast. Guided by a radar system and on-board avionics successfully, the missile successfully hit a pilotless target aircraft.
Many Indian industries including public sector Bharat Electronics limited(BEl) and Bharat Dynamics limited(BDl) besides private units like larsen & Toubro and TATA group of companies besides others contributed to the development of a number of subsystems put into use in this flight test, officials said here after the test. Moreover, the Indian and Israel teams participated in the launch.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar congratulated DRDO and the industry partners for successful demonstration of the air defence capability. DRDO chief S Christopher declared the launch as a major milestone for the IAF towards air defence.
Explaining the significance of the test, officials said the MRSAM will be able to destroy any enemy aircraft or UAV. The Navy inducted this missile some months back after trials in India and Israel. While the range of the naval version is more than 70 km as there are no obstructions in sea, the air and land version of the missile has to take into account obstacles like hills or uneven surface. Given this scenario, the range of the MRSAM comes down to 50 km or so, they said. Moreover, the IAF and Army will need more batteries of missiles as compared to the Navy, they said.