New Delhi: Indian Army’s lethal capabilities will get a hike after the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully test fired the Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (MP-ATGM) at a firing range in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. The ATGM is 100 percent indigenous and being developed for the infantry to take out enemy tanks and armoured vehicles.
Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, congratulated DRDO for their success.
The Defence spokesperson said, “Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) today successfully flight tested indigenously developed low weight, fire and forget MPATGM. The missile was launched from a man-portable tripod launcher and the target was mimicking a functional tank.”
He added, “The missile hit the target in top attack mode and destroyed it with precision. All the mission objectives were met.”
The missile has state-of-the-art Infrared Imaging Seeker along with advanced avionics. The successful tests paves way for the Army to develop third-generation man-portable ATGM indigenously.
Currently, the army is using imported Milan 2T and Konkurs Russian anti-tank missile. However, they are outdated and the army was looking for a third generation ATGM. The Success of DRDO’s test will pave way for the Army to induct Indian made ATGMs soon.
Army Chief Bipin Rawat has provided full support to the indigenization of the military. The government even withdrew from buying the Spike ATGM from Israel in view of DRDO’s development of the ATGM.
