BHUBANESWAR: India has successfully conducted the final developmental trials of third generation Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) paving the way for its early induction in the armed forces.
Indigenously designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the short range missile equipped with day/night and top attack capability was put to a series of firing trials at the Pokhran field firing range in Rajasthan on Saturday.
Defence sources said warhead flight trials were successfully conducted for achieving compliance of complete operational envelop as stipulated in the general staff qualitative requirements (Infantry, Indian Army). The performances of the missile and the warhead were found to be remarkable.
With this, the Ministry of Defence, in a statement said technology development and its successful demonstration have been concluded and the system is now ready for final user evaluation trials leading towards its induction into the Indian Army.
"Penetration trials of the tandem warhead system of MPATGM have been successfully completed and it is found capable of defeating modern armour protected main battle tank. Dual mode seeker functionality of the system is a great value addition to the missile capability for tank warfare," said a defence official.
The MPATGM has been field evaluated in different flight configurations several times with the objective of proving the technology with high superiority. The system consisted of the MPATGM, launcher, target acquisition system, and the fire control unit.
Once inducted, the missile, best in its class in the world, will replace second generation French origin anti-tank guided missile Milan and Soviet semi-automatic wire-guided missile Konkur, which are in service with the Army.
The success of the MPATGM, which is yet to get a formal name, is a major boost to the Make-in-India initiative. Though India has anti-tank guided missile Nag in its arsenal, the development of MPATGM was necessitated after the armed forces sought low-weight and man portable weapon systems as per battle ground requirements.
With a strike range of over 2.5 km, the missile is capable of being fired from shoulder and can be used during day and night. It weighs around 14.5 kg to maintain man portability and has a minimum lateral centre and gravity offset.
Secretary of Department of Defence R&D and DRDO chairman Samir V Kamat congratulated the teams associated with the trials.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has complimented the DRDO and the Indian Army for the successful trials of the system. He termed it as an important step towards achieving self-reliance in advanced technology-based defence system development.