New Delhi : India and Israel Monday successfully tested the Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LRSAM) in Israel, an official statement said.
The test was done by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in the presence of scientists of India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and officials of the Indian armed forces.
The LRSAM system has been jointly developed by DRDO and IAI Israel.
“All the systems including the radar, communication launch systems and the missile system have performed as expected and hit the target directly and damaged. The system is developed for both Israel defence forces and Indian armed forces,” the statement said.
Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and DRDO chief Avinash Chander was present for the rest along with IAI president Joseph Weiss and other top Israeli defence officials.
Chander termed the event “as a milestone in the cooperation between two countries in developing advanced weapon systems”, the statement said.
The missile system will be deployed on the newly commissioned INS Kolkata, which had to be inducted without the weapon system due to delays in testing.
DRDO sources said it would be the main weapon system on INS Kolkata and also be deployed on other Naval ships including recently commissioned INS Kamrota.
“It will be the main defence weapon against coming missiles as well as aircrafts. It will be put in place in other Naval ships as well,” a DRDO official told IANS.