The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted two successful flight tests of the Indian Army's version of the Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) on Sunday.
The tests, conducted at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha, were carried out as part of the live firing trials against high-speed aerial targets.
The first test was to intercept a medium-altitude, long-range target and the second against a low-altitude, short-range target. The missiles intercepted the targets and destroyed them completely, registering direct hits at both ranges.
Developed jointly by DRDO and the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), for use by the Indian Army, the MRSAM Army weapon system comprises multi-function radar, mobile launcher system, and other vehicles.
The flight tests were carried out with the weapon system in deliverable configuration.
The performance of the weapon system was validated through the flight data captured by range instruments like radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry deployed by ITR, Chandipur.
Senior officials from the DRDO and the Indian Army were present at the test site.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO, the Indian Army, and the industry for the successful flight tests of MRSAM-Army, saying both the successful tests establish the capability of the weapon system in intercepting targets at critical ranges.
Defence R&D Secretary and DRDO Chairman Dr G. Satheesh Reddy complimented the teams involved in the successful flight trials and termed these tests major milestones for 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.
"MRSAM-Army missile system flight tested from ITR Balasore at around 1030 Hrs intercepting a high speed aerial target at long range. The target was destroyed by the missile in a direct hit," Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) tweeted.