India test-fires surface-to-air missile

With two successful launches on Thursday, Indian and Israeli defence scientists announced the development of the Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM).

The missiles guided by a Radar system and on-board avionics successfully hit a Pilotless target aircraft after they were test fired first in the morning and second one in the afternoon from the Integrated Test Range, off Odisha Coast.

The MRSAM is being jointly developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad of the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and IAI of Israel for the Indian Air Force.

Many Indian companies like BEL, L&T, BDL, TATA group besides other private companies have contributed to the development of a number of sub-systems which have been put into use in this flight test, according to a press release.

The MRSAM system is expected to boost the Air Defence as it provides reliable air defence at medium ranges. Both, Indian and Israel teams participated in the launch campaign. Ugender Reddy has overseen the launch activities as Project Director.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar congratulated the DRDO and the industry partners for successful demonstration of the Air Defence capability, the release said.

The G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and Programme Director, MRSAM, G Satheesh Reddy, who led the efforts said “It is a quantum jump in air defence capability, the missile successfully intercepted a manoeuvring air-breathing target mimicking an attacking combat aircraft. "It was a perfect launch achieving all the mission parameters”.

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