New Delhi (NVI): In yet another milestone for Indian defence, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test-fired its Laser-Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) from MBT Arjun at KK Ranges, Armoured Corps Centre and School (ACC&S) Ahmednagar in Maharashtra yesterday.
In these tests, the ATGM successfully defeated a target located at 3 km. Laser guided ATGMs lock and track the targets with the help of laser designation to ensure precision hit accuracy, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement today.
The 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.
Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) Pune in association with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) Pune, and Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) Dehradun have developed the missile.
DRDO is working towards reducing import dependency in the defence sector in the near future, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Atma Airbhar Bharat (self-reliant) India. PM Modi had recently said that self-reliance in the defence sector will pave the path for an Atma Nirbhar Bharat.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the achievement. “Congratulations to @DRDO_India for successfully conducting test firing of Laser Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile from MBT Arjun at KK Ranges (ACC&S) in Ahmednagar. India is proud of Team DRDO which is assiduously working towards reducing import dependency in the near future,” Singh tweeted.
Congratulations to @DRDO_India for successfully conducting test firing of Laser Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile from MBT Arjun at KK Ranges (ACC&S) in Ahmednagar.
India is proud of Team DRDO which is assiduously working towards reducing import dependency in the near future. pic.twitter.com/WuBivV7VYU
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 23, 2020
Secretary DDR&D & Chairman DRDO also congratulated DRDO personnel and industry on the successful test firing, MoD said.
In another development yesterday, DRDO had conducted a successful flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) light-weight expendable drone from the Interim Test Range, Balasore in Odisha.
During the trials, two demonstrator vehicles were successfully test flown. The vehicle can be used as target for evaluation of various missile systems, MoD said in a statement.
