NEW DELHI: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully completed development trials of the UAV Launched Precision Guided Missile (ULPGM) ‘V3’ in both air to ground and air to air modes, validating the missile against anti tank targets as well as drones, helicopters and other airborne threats.
The trials were conducted at the DRDO test range near Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh using an integrated Ground Control System equipped with “state of the art technologies to automate readiness and launch operations”, the defence ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry said the successful trials confirmed readiness for serial production of the missile system.
The V3 is an upgraded version of the earlier ULPGM system and incorporates a dual channel seeker, day and night capability and a two way datalink that enables post launch target updates. The missile can also be configured with different warheads for anti armour, bunker busting and fragmentation roles.
The programme is part of the country’s broader effort to develop homegrown precision strike weapons for unmanned platforms as armed drones and counter UAV systems become increasingly central to battlefield operations.
“At present, India still depends heavily on imported precision munitions, seekers and sensor technologies for armed drones,” a source said.“What this programme does is provide an indigenous lightweight missile that can be integrated with different UAV platforms instead of depending on imported strike payloads,” the source added.
The missile’s air to air capability points to the increasing importance of counter UAV operations as drones become central to contemporary battlefield tactics.
India already operates loitering munitions and armed capable unmanned systems, including Israeli origin Harop platformsand is also set to induct MQ 9B Predator unmanned aerial vehicles from the US, which can carry precision guided weapons including Hellfire missiles and smart bombs.
The ULPGM V3 has been integrated with unmanned aerial vehicles developed by Bengaluru based Newspace Research and Technologies.
DRDO has partnered with Bharat Dynamics Limited and Adani Defence Systems and Technologies Limited for production of the missile system.
