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BALASORE: In a first ever exercise, three rounds of air-to-air short range Russian missile were test fired by the Indian Air Force (IAF) as part of their user trial on Tuesday. The missiles were coordinated to destroy tow bodies released from pilotless target aircraft (PTA) flown from a defence base off the Odisha coast.
The tests which were initially planned on last Thursday could not be conducted due to technical glitches in the PTA. Another attempt on Friday was postponed due to inclement weather.
Sources said the non-DRDO Russian missiles were fired from fighter aircraft targeting the floating objects released from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Lakshya flown from the launching complex-II of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea.
"Altogether six fighter aircraft, two each in every round were engaged in the exercise. The aircraft were of Sukhoi and MiG 29 classes. While one was used as attacker, the other as chaser. After the attacker aircraft fired the missile, the chaser tracked its movement and precision of firing. The entire exercise was conducted in a real time scenario," said an official.
While the whole exercise was carried out by the personnel of IAF, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) provided logistic support. The aircraft had taken off from the Kalaikunda air base near Kharagpur in West Bengal and successfully targeted the tow bodies over Bay of Bengal.
The test was aimed at gauging the suitability and efficiency of the weapon system. These missiles were procured by India from Russia several years ago for the use of Air Force to give air protection to Indian cities against air strikes by manned or unmanned air vehicles flying at low and medium altitudes.
Sources said the Russian missiles have the capability to efficiently engage targets at a range of 15 km at minimum altitude in less than 10 seconds. The missiles used for the test were selected randomly from the lot, said the official adding that more rounds of tests have been planned on Wednesday and Thursday.
This mission was crucial for the IAF as last year an Air Force troupe had to wind up their air defence exercise at the test facility here as three trials of the five attempts made to engage aerial targets by a Russian surface-to-air missile (SAM) failed.
Russian Air-to-air Missiles Hit Target - The New Indian Express
