Bhubaneswar: India conducted the test of the Army version of the medium-range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) from a defence facility off Odisha coast on Wednesday. The missile achieved a ‘direct hit’.
The missile was flight tested from the launching complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-Sea. It targeted an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Banshee, a British drone, according to Defence sources.
Jointly developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries, the state-of-the-art missile was tested in the presence of Army officials.
Having a strike range of nearly 100 km, the 4.5-meter long nuclear-capable ballistic missile weighs around 2.7 tonne and can carry a payload of 60 kg. It has a speed of Mach 2 and can neutralise airborne threats like jets, missiles and rockets including projectiles launched simultaneously.
Earlier, three trials of the naval version of the missile were conducted from the same test facility in 2016 followed by a user trial from INS Kochi in 2017.