BHUBANESWAR: India on Thursday successfully test-fired laser-guided Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) from Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun at KK Ranges near Ahmednagar in Maharashtra.
Defence sources said the indigenously developed laser-guided ATGMs were successfully flight tested by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Army with the support of Armoured Corps Centre and School (ACC&S), Ahmednagar.
The missiles hit with precision and successfully destroyed the targets at both minimum and maximum ranges. Telemetry systems deployed for the mission have recorded the satisfactory flight performance of the missiles.
The missile has been developed with multi-platform launch capability by Pune-based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) in association with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) and Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun.
It is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from 120 mm rifled gun of MBT Arjun. The missile locks and tracks the targets with the help of laser designation to ensure precision hit accuracy.
The all-indigenous laser guided ATGMs employ a tandem high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead to defeat explosive reactive armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles in ranges from 1.5 km to 5 km.
Secretary of Department of Defence R&D and chairman of DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy congratulated the teams associated with the test firing of laser guided ATGMs. He said the consistency of ATGM’s capability to engage targets from minimum to maximum range has been established successfully during the trials.
ATGMs are primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. The missiles can be transported by a single soldier, to larger tripod-mounted weapons, which require a squad or team to transport and fire, to vehicle and aircraft mounted missile systems.
This type of guided missiles rely on an electro-optical imager (IIR) seeker, a laser or a W-band radar seeker in the nose of the missile. These are ‘fire-and-forget’ missiles where the operator can retreat right after firing as there is no more guidance required.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has complimented DRDO and Indian Army for the successful performance of the laser guided ATGMs.