DRDO successfully tests very-short range air defence system missile

Bhubaneswar: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) carried out two successful test flights of the Very-Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missile on Tuesday.

The missiles were test-fired from a ground-based portable launcher from Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, located off the coast of Odisha. As per the DRDO, VSHORADS is a Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPAD) that has been designed and developed indigenously by the DRDO's Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad Hyderabad in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories and Indian Industry Partners.

"VSHORADS incorporates many novel technologies including miniaturised Reaction Control System and integrated avionics, which have been successfully proven during tests. The missile, meant for neutralising low-altitude aerial threats at short ranges, is propelled by a dual thrust solid motor," the official said.

The design of the missile including the launcher has been highly optimized to ensure easy portability. Both the flight tests have completely met the mission objectives.

Notably, earlier on September 8, India had successfully completed six flight tests of the Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) system off the Odisha Coast as part of evaluation trials by the Indian Army.

The flight tests were carried out against high-speed aerial targets mimicking various types of aerial threats to evaluate the capability of the weapon systems under different scenarios including long-range medium altitude, short-range high, altitude manoeuvring target, low radar signature with receding and crossing target and salvo launch with two missiles fired in quick succession.
The system performance was also evaluated under day and night operation scenarios.

During these tests, all the mission objectives were met establishing pin-point accuracy of the QRSAM weapon system with state-of-the-art guidance and control algorithms including the warhead chain. (ANI)