As the country continues to renovate its defense house, Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) achieves a major milestone through the maiden launch of Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM), Army Version. The launch was successfully done from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the Coast of Odisha around 1600 hrs. According to DRDO the program became a huge success as the missile completely destroyed a high speed unmanned aerial target which was mimicking an aircraft with a direct hit.

The latest edition of MRSAM was developed jointly by DRDO, India and IAI, Israel for use of the Indian Army. The weapon system comprises of Command post, Multi-Function Radar and Mobile Launcher system. The complete Fire Unit was also used during the launch in the deliverable configuration. The team from the users i.e. Indian Army also witnessed the launch. Number of range instruments such as Radar, Telemetry and Electro-Optical Tracking System were deployed and captured the complete mission data, validating the weapon system performance including the destruction of the target.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh lauded the efforts of DRDO and associated team members involved in the mission and echoed that India has attained a high level of capability in the indigenous design and development of advanced weapon systems. Secretary Dept. of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy also poured congratulations on the DRDO community for successfully demonstrating the performance of the MRSAM Army weapon system and registering direct target hit in its maiden launch. He also lauded the efforts of the entire team in realizing the system within record time and meeting the committed schedule.