The Indian Army on Sunday successfully carried out a test firing of the Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) air defence system off the coast of Odisha’s Balasore, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
“MRSAM-Army missile system flight tested from ITR Balasore, Odisha at around 1030 hours intercepting a high-speed aerial target at long range,” DRDO said in a tweet.
As per DRDO, the target was destroyed by the missile in a direct hit.
“The system is part of the Indian Army. In the test, the missile secured a direct hit at the target at a very far off distance,” DRDO officials said.
MRSAM was jointly developed by IAI and DRDO over the last several years, and they tested the system in India during the last week of December, the Israeli company said.
The system was developed in the wake of one of the largest defense deals in Israel’s history. In April 2017, IAI and India signed a $1.6 billion contract for the MRSAM system for India’s ground forces. The development involved several Indian companies such as Bharat Electronics Limited, Larsen & Toubro, and Bharat Dynamics Limited as well as Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
The effort is one of the joint ventures that underpins India’s economic policy “Make in India” for defense development, which has seen several decades of contracts with Israeli companies to modernize India’s military.
Each MRSAM weapon system comprises one command and control system, one tracking radar, missiles, and mobile launcher systems.
The mobile launcher is used to transport, emplace and launch up to eight canisterised missiles in two stacks. It can fire the missiles in single or ripple firing modes from the vertical firing position.
The combat management system simplifies the process of engaging a variety of threats. It identifies and tracks the threat using a tracking radar. The system calculates the distance between the target and the launcher and then determines if the identified target is a friend or a foe. The target information is then transmitted to the mobile launcher.
The weapon is 4.5m-long, weighs approximately 276kg, and is equipped with canards and fins for control and maneuverability.
MRSAM missile is equipped with an advanced active radar radio frequency (RF) seeker, advanced rotating phased array radar, and a bidirectional data link. The RF seeker, located in the front section of the missile, is used to detect moving targets in all weather conditions.
The phased array radar provides a high-quality air situation picture, while the bidirectional data link is used for relaying midcourse guidance and target information to the missile.
The missile’s explosive warhead, featuring a self-destruct fuse, provides high-probability of kill against enemy targets with minimal collateral damage.
MRSAM surface-to-air missile is powered by a dual-pulse solid propulsion system developed by DRDO.
The propulsion system, coupled with a thrust vector control system, allows the missile to move at a maximum speed of Mach 2. The weapon has the ability to engage multiple targets simultaneously at ranges of 70km.
MRSAM is a land-based configuration of the long-range surface-to-air missile (LRSAM) or Barak-8 naval air defence system, which is designed to operate from naval vessels.
The Indian Ministry of Defence is procuring an undisclosed number of MRSAM air defence systems to replace the Indian Army’s ageing air defence systems.
(with inputs from ANI)
