NEW DELHI/TEL AVIV: The next-generation Barak surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, jointly developed by Israeli Aerospace Industries, Rafael and India’s DRDO, was tested for the first time from an Israeli warship against a jet-powered dron, reports in the Indian media said on Saturday.
The supersonic Barak-8 missile system, whose interception range has been increased from the earlier 70-km to around 100-km, will be now tested from Indian destroyer INS Kolkata “within a month”, said sources.
Once the long-range SAM system is fully operational in around two years, all Indian frontline warships will be equipped with this all-weather “defence shield” against incoming enemy fighters, drones, helicopters, missiles and other munitions.
“It will be the standard LR-SAM or area defence weapon for our warships, much like the 290-km BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles (developed jointly with Russia) have become the standard precision strike weapon on them. PSU Bharat Dynamics is already gearing up for producing the LR-SAM systems in bulk,” said an official.
The Rs 2,606 crore LR-SAM development project was sanctioned for Indian warships in December 2005 but was hit by several delays. The reasons ranged from mid-way upward revision of performance requirements and development of some new technologies to the technological challenge of “combustion instability of rocket motors” that took a long time to resolve.
