The Indian Navy has conducted a successful trial of a medium range Surface to Air Missile (SAM), which has been developed with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1).
The Indian Navy said that it had, "achieved a significant milestone in enhancing its Anti Air Warfare Capability with the maiden cooperative engagement firing of the Medium Range Surface to Air Missile. The firing was undertaken on the Western Seaboard by Indian Naval ships Kochi and Chennai, wherein the missiles of both ships were controlled by one ship to intercept different aerial targets at extended ranges."
The SAM system is based on IAI's Barak 8, an operational advanced missile defense system used by Israel's navy as well as by India's navy, air and land forces. It provides broad aerial and point defense against a wide range of threats to the marine arena from the air, sea or land. The system integrates several advanced state-of-the-art systems, such as digital radar, command and control, launchers, interceptors with modern RF seekers, data link and system-wide connectivity.
The trial was carried out by the Indian Navy, India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), and Israel Aerospace Industries, which supplies many of the missile's systems together with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd..
IAI signed a $777 million deal last year to provide long range missile defense systems to the Indian Navy and a follow-on $93 million deal in January to provide medium range missiles. IAI has sold Barak 8 missiles worldwide worth more than $6 billion.
The Indian Navy said, "These surface to air missiles are fitted onboard the Kolkata class destroyers and would also be fitted on all future major warships of the Indian Navy. With the successful proving of this cooperative mode of engagement, the Indian Navy has become a part of a select group of navies that have this niche capability. This capability significantly enhances the combat effectiveness of the Indian Navy thereby providing an operational edge over potential adversaries."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 17, 2019
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