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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.
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After the trials, makers of the missile, the Defence Research Development Organisation 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 Indian Army, at Pokhran ranges in Rajasthan in the last 48 hours.
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The flight tests of the 'fire and forget' anti-tank missile programme now stands completed, almost 22 years after it was first conceived, DRDO's chief controller Dr Prahlada said after witnessing the tests on Wednesday.
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 4 km.
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"User trials by the Army would come close on the heels of the Pokhran trials," officials told PTI, 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 Wednesday'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, 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.
The airborne version of the Nag would have an extended range of eight kilometres and would be ready in two-and-half years, officials added.
Image: Anti-tank guided missile Nag being successfully test fired at Pokhran test range.
Photograph: PTI Photo