LRSAM Test From Warship on Odisha’s Coast a Success

BHUBANESWAR: India on Thursday successfully flight tested Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM) from a warship off western coast. The missile destroyed a low flying aerial target paving way for its deployment in the armed forces.

Defence sources said the missile, jointly developed by India and Israel, was test fired in operational configuration on board INS Chennai positioned in the Arabian sea.

A defence official termed the mission highly successful. “The missile was fired for the first time from the Kolkata-class stealth guided missile destroyer ship of the Indian Navy. It achieved all mission parameters,” he informed.

Apart from the missile, the system includes a multi functional surveillance and threat alert radar for detection, tracking and guidance of the missile. The radar provides users the capability to track down any aerial threats.

The trajectory of the state-of-the-art advanced missile was throughout tracked and monitored by radars and electro-optical systems.

“The test validated all the elements related to naval and land-based variants of the missile including the phased array radar, battle management system, communications and the interceptor,” the official added.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Navy and the industry involved in development of the missile for the landmark achievement.

“India achieves a significant milestone with successful flight test of LRSAM on board INS Chennai. The missile directly hit a low flying aerial target,” she tweeted.

Both Israel and Indian scientists and technicians were involved in the launch of the weapon system. The missile was first tested from INS Kolkata on western seaboard in 2015. The missile would be inducted in both Army and Navy after completion of its developmental trials.

The missile having an operational range of 75 km can destroy airborne threats like jets, aircraft, anti-ship missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and rockets including projectiles launched simultaneously.
The missile has a length of about 4.5 metre, a diameter of 0.54 metre, wingspan of 0.94 metre and weighs around 275 kg including a 60 kg warhead which detonates at proximity.

Source: IE

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