MR-SAM ready to fire. (Photo : Ministry of Defense)
The Indian Army has ordered 200 Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MR-SAM) systems, the land-based version of the naval Barak-8 missile to be jointly produced by India and Israel in a massive deal worth $2.5 billion.
The army's MR-SAMs will arm 40 launcher systems in five regiments and are expected to be deployed by 2023. A complete MR-SAM system consists of a command and control system, tracking radar, interceptors and a mobile launcher system.
Each launcher will have eight MR-SAMs in two stacks. The interceptors are launched in a canister configuration. The system is also fitted with an advanced radio frequency (RF) seeker.
India and Israel will co-develop and produce MR-SAM. The Indian end of the project will be taken care of by state-owned Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) in partnership with other state-owned and private defense companies.
A formal contract to build MR-SAM will be awarded later this month.
MR-SAM will be developed jointly by India's state-owned defense research agency, the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
Barak-8, from which MR-SAM is derived, is an Indian-Israeli SAM designed to defend against any type of airborne threat including jets, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, UAVs and cruise missiles out to a maximum range of 70 km.
Both naval and land-based versions of Barak-8 exist. The naval version of Barak-8 is called the Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM).
Barak 8 was jointly developed by IAI, DRDO, Israel's Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure, Elta Systems, Rafael Advance Defense Systems and other companies.
IAI's Elta Systems will provide the radar and Rafael will produce the interceptor missiles in association with many Indian private and state-owned companies such as the Tata Power SED, Larsen & Toubro and state-owned Bharat Electronics and Bharat Dynamics, among others.
The systems will be manufactured in India and would have an 80 percent indigenous content.
IAI and DRDO have already conducted three flight tests of the MR-SAM system to validate all missile components.
"The missile successfully intercepted a moving aerial target in all the three tests, and the system is due for induction this year," said India's Ministry of Defense.
