In a major boost for the Indian army, the Defence Research Development Organisation on Wednesday, 11 September, successfully test-fired the indigenously developed Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) from Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool, reported PTI.
The defence ministry said it was the third series of successful testing of MPATGM which will be used by the Army.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful test of the missile.
Officials said the test paves the way for the Army to develop the third generation man portable anti-tank guided missile indigenously.
“In a major boost for Indian Army, DRDO today successfully flight tested indigenously developed low weight, fire and forget MPATGM in the ranges of Kurnool,” the defence ministry said.
It said the fire and forget missile was launched from a man portable tripod launcher and it hit the intended target.
“The missile hit the target in top attack mode and destroyed it with precision. All the mission objectives were met,” the ministry said.
The missile was launched with with state-of-the-art infrared imaging seeker along with advanced avionics.
Earlier, India had cancelled a mega order of Israeli anti-tank missile, Spike, in favor of the MPATGM. A multi-million dollar deal with an Israeli firm for the Spike missile had been abandoned after the DRDO promised to deliver its indigenously developed guided missile by 2021, according to news agency IANS.
The DRDO successfully developed the anti-tank guided missile without any technological assistance from foreign firms.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)
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