New Delhi, Aug 06: Reaching yet another milestone in
its efforts to develop a slew of missiles, India on Wednesday entered
an elite group of nations with the successful final testing of
'Nag' indigenous Guided Anti-Tank Missile and readying it for
induction into the Army.
After the trials, makers of the missile, the Defence
Research Development Organisation (DRDO) declared it ready for
induction into the Indian Army following user trials.
The climax trials of the third generation anti-tank
missile were conducted in the presence of the users, the Army,
at Pokhran ranges in Rajasthan in the last 48 hours.
The flight tests of the 'fire and forget' anti-tank
missile programme, named after the King of snakes Cobra now
stands completed, almost 22 years after it was first
conceived, DRDO's chief controller Dr Prahlada said after
witnessing the tests today.
The 'Nag' missiles were fired against static and moving
targets during the 48 hours starting August 5 to test the land
version of the weapon, which DRDO claims could defeat any
futuristic battle tank over a range of four kms.
"User trials by the Army would come close on the heels of
the Pokhran trials," officials said, exuding confidence
that the nation's first ever such weapon would be inducted by
the Army in large numbers by November-December this year.
Army needs these missiles in large numbers, which is
evident by acquisition of 4,000 Anti-Tank Guided Missiles from
Russia and France recently.
The Army is also on the verge of floating new tenders
to induct another 4,000 such missiles and DRDO expects the
indigenous 'Nag' to be on top of the contention.
On today's trials, Prahlada said both targets were
precisely hit, confirming the system capabilities of the 'Nag'
missile and the mobility of the system in desert terrain was
comprehensively demonstrated.
Expressing happiness on the last milestone of the
programme, Prahlada confirmed that for the first time, top
Army officials were witness to the production version trials
of 'Nag' missile carrier NAMICA from Bharat Electronics
Limited and the missiles from Bharat Dynamics Limited.
"Nag missile, unique in the world in its class, has
both top and front attack capabilities and passive homing
guidance achieved through Imaging Infrared seeker system," he
said.
Nag, is the last of the five missile systems successfully
developed by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile
Development Programme (IGMDP), which was declared completed in
December last year.
The long delay on the 'Nag' is attributed by defence
scientists to problems with its Imaging Infra Red guidance
system due to technology denial by advanced nations.
However, top DRDO scientists now say the missile which
has a complete fibreglass structure is ready to become fully
operational.
The other four Surface-to-Surface 'Prithvi' and 'Agni'
series of missiles, as well as Surface-to-Air 'Akash', are in
the process of induction, while Trishul multi-mission
missile's development trials are already over.
DRDO officials said the 'Nag' missiles used for the
present trials were superior in terms of range to the
'Javelin' of the US and 'Spike' of the Israel.
They said the new version of 'Nag' had operational day
and night capability and its lethality had been increased to
enable it to carry one of the most powerful tandem warheads.
The indigenous missiles would have a ten year
maintenance-free shelf life.
Army has already placed orders for 443 'Nag' missiles
and 13 NAMICAs, the tracked launchers of these missiles, for
induction over the next three years.
These carriers, a modified version of the Infantry Combat
Vehicles BMP-2 (ICV), are capable of carrying four-ready-to
fire missiles in the launch platform and to store 12 more
missiles.
DRDO scientists have begun work on developing the air
force version of the missiles, which would be called 'Helina'.
It would be mounted on the indigenous 'Dhruv' Advanced Light
Helicopters (ALH).
The air borne version of the 'Nag' would have an extended
range of eight kilometres and would be ready in two-and-half
years, officials added.
Bureau Report