NEW DELHI: India achieved a significant milestone, Thursday, with the Navy successfully testing ‘cooperative engagement firing’ of the indigenous Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) and significantly enhancing its anti-air warfare capability.
Talking about the complex maneuver a senior Navy officer said, “With the successful proving of this cooperative mode of engagement, the Indian Navy has become part of a select group of navies that have this niche capability. This capability significantly enhances the combat effectiveness of the Indian Navy, thereby providing an operational edge over potential adversaries.”
Explaining the technical details, he said, “In such coordinated approach, the total number of ships participating in any engagement can be kept a secret and ammunition is not wasted by firing more missiles to bring down a single enemy target. A single ship can scan the maritime domain with its electronic means and share the information with the other ships locally, thus decreasing the chances of other ships being detected by the enemy,”said the officer.
The missile used has been jointly developed by Defence Research and Development Laboratory, a DRDO Lab, in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries. The MRSAM has been manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited, India.
As of now, these Surface to Air Missiles are fitted onboard the Kolkata class destroyers and would feature on all future major warships of the Indian Navy. The firing was undertaken on the western seaboard by Indian Naval Ships Kochi and Chennai, wherein the missiles of both ships were controlled by one ship to intercept different aerial targets at extended ranges.
The test was a joint effort of the Indian Navy, DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries. The effort to achieve operational capability had been on for several years.