In news– Recently, DRDO has successfully test fired indigenously developed laser-guided ATGMs
About laser-guided ATGMs-
- The all-indigenous Laser Guided ATGM employs a tandem High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles.
- The term tandem refers to the missiles using more than one detonation in order to effectively penetrate the protective armours of the adversary tanks.
- The ATGM has been developed with multi-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from the 120 mm rifled gun of MBT Arjun.
- It has the capacity of defeating armoured vehicles which use ERA, which are specially designed armour plates that can counter the impact of the attack projectile.
- It has the capability to defeat the protected armoured vehicles in ranges from 1.5 to 5 kilometre.
- Laser Guided ATGM was developed by two Pune based facilities of the DRDO’s Armament and Combat Engineering (ACE) Cluster, the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), in association with Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun.
Other anti-tank missile technologies developed by DRDO-
- Nag is a third-generation fire-and-forget missile developed for mechanized formations to engage heavily fortified enemy tanks.
- The Nag missile is launched from a modified infantry combat vehicle, called the Nag missile carrier or Namica.
- MPATGM stands for Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) which has a range of 2.5 kilometers, with fire-and-forget and top attack capabilities for infantry use.
- SANT is a smart Stand-off Anti-Tank Missile being developed for launch from the Mi-35 Helicopter for the Air Force’s anti-tank operations.
- ATGM for MBT Arjun is a laser-guided, precision-guided munition which is launched from the 120mm rifled gun of the Arjun tank to engage and defeat Explosive Reactive Armour-protected armoured targets.
Source: PIB
