Ahmednagar: DRDO test-fires laser-guided anti-tank missile, Defence Min praises success

 Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday successfully test-fired a laser-guided Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) from an MBT Arjun Tank in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar. Laser-guided ATGMs lock and track targets with help of laser designation to ensure precision hit accuracy.

During test at KK Ranges, Armoured Corps Centre and School (ACC&S),  ATGM successfully defeated a target located at 3 km, Defence Ministry said.

Congratulating DRDO for this achievement, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India is proud of ncy's team which is "assiduously working towards reducing import dependency in near future". Modi government is looking to increase domestic production and procurement of such techlogies as it aims to reduce dependence on Israeli, US and Russian imports.

missile employs a tandem HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles. It has been developed with multiple-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from gun of MBT Arjun. 

missile has been developed by Pune-based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) in association with Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE) Dehradun.

primary purpose of ATGMs, which can be both medium and long-range, is to destroy armoured vehicles including tanks.  missiles use several types of guidance systems to do this, including laser, TV cameras and wire guiding. Some are flexible eugh to be used via an aircraft, by infantry and through land vehicles.

In July, 'Dhruvastra', an advanced variant of India’s indigeusly built ATGM systems, was tested at Integrated Test Range in Odisha’s Chandipur.

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Successful flight test of ABHYAS

On Tuesday, DRDO had also conducted a successful flight test of ABHYAS - High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from Interim Test Range, Balasore in Odisha. During trials, two demonstrator vehicles were successfully test flown.

According to Ministry of Defence, ABHYAS is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and DRDO. air vehicle is launched using a twin underslung booster and is powered by a small gas turbine engine and has MEMS-based Inertial Navigation System (INS) for navigation along with Flight Control Computer (FCC) for guidance and control. vehicle is programmed for fully automous flight while check out of air vehicle is done using laptop-based Ground Control Station (GCS). 

During test campaign, user requirement of 5 km flying altitude, vehicle speed of 0.5 Mach, an endurance of 30 minutes, and 2g turn capability of test vehicle were successfully achieved.

(Im: PIB)

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