Sarel Aerospace Industries and the Defense Research and Development Organization of India’s Government successfully tested the medium-range surface-to-air missile system MRSAM.
The Israeli company stated that IAI and DRDO jointly developed MRSAM over the past several years. They tested the system in India during the last week of December.
This system was developed in the wake of the largest defense deals in the history of Israel. In April 2017, IAI and India signed a $ 1.6 billion contract for the MRSAM system for India’s ground forces.
The development included several Indian companies such as Bharat Electronics Ltd., Larsen & Toubro, and Bharat Dynamics Ltd., as well as Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense System.
The effort is one of the joint ventures underpinning India’s economic policy “Make in India” for India’s economic development, which has seen several decades of contracts with Israeli companies to modernize India’s military.
“The MRSAM Air and Missile Defense System is a state-of-the-art innovative system that has once again proven its advanced capabilities against various threats,” said Boaz Levy, president, and CEO of IAI, which was appointed to the top job in November Was and is closely involved in the development of the Barak 8 air defense system. (MRSAM is part of the Barak family.)
“Each test in the air defense system is a complex operational event, and the COVID-19 limitations greatly increase complexity. This test is another testimonial to the strong partnership between IAI and India and the two countries,” said Levy.
The IAI’s Barak family of air defense systems surround many different levels ranges from 35 kilometers to 150 kilometers, and provoke Barack MX, the company as a globally integrated solution against single, multiple simultaneous threats Is doing marketing. MRSAM fills a medium distance gap (70 km) in India.
The current test “validates all components of the weapon system” according to the IAI.
“Israeli experts and Indian scientists and officials participated and watched the test,” the company added. “Flight testing performed various extreme reference scenarios validating various system capabilities.”
The test consisted of a mobile launcher and multimode radar. The IAI subsidiary makes Alta Systems multimode radar, the same type of radar used by Israel’s Iron Dome Air Defense System. Traveling from a test site in India and then back to Israel was challenging due to the epidemic, requiring participants to quarantine and work in capsules.
MRSAM is used by the Air Force and Navy of India. The naval version, called LRSAM, is based on the Barak 8 and was sold in 2018 as a $ 777 million contract with India’s state-owned Bharat Electronics Limited for seven naval ships. The Barak 8 had its first sea-based operational interception in 2015 and proved useful on land in 2016.
It can be used as a threat to the sea, such as the Russian Yakont missile, and the IAI says that the land-based system can withstand a variety. Threats, including combat aircraft, missiles, and UAVs.