The SPYDER air defence system of Rafael Advanced Defence Systems

Indian Army this morning shot down a Pakistani drone spying over India in Abdasa village near Kutch, Gujarat. The Pakistani drone was shot down using a ‘Derby’ missile of the Israeli air defence system SPYDER

New Delhi: Indian Army this morning shot down a Pakistani drone that was on a spying mission over India in Abdasa village near Kutch, Gujarat. The Pakistani drone was shot down using a ‘Derby’ missile of the Israeli air defence system SPYDER. India used this system to target the Pak spy drone. Spy drone from Pakistan has been shot down in the same day India conducted air strikes in Balakot, earlier this morning.

The Indian Army has used SPYDER for the first time. SPYDER stands for Surface to air PYthon and DERby, it is a short-mid range mobile air defence system, which has been developed by Rafael Advance Defence System with assistance from Israel Aerospace Industries. Along with India, Singapore is also another country, which operates SPYDER.

The system is fitted atop of a truck and has two missiles ‘Derby’ and ‘Python-5’. The systems have very quick reaction time and it has all-weather support, with multi launchers.The height of inception is 9 km (minimum) and 15 km (maximum), and its operational range is 35 km. The ‘Derby’ is ARH missiles that provide SPYDER with a fire and forget option because of its radar guidance feature. Derby missiles length is 362cm, the span is 64cm, the diameter is 16cm and weight is 118 kg.

In 2006, India planned to buy 18 SPYDER-MR systems at a cost of $395.2 million (Rs. 1800 crore) for its air force. The SPYDER systems were delivered to India in 2012. 18 SPYDER-MRs along with 750 Python-5 surface to air missiles (SAMs) and 750 Derby SAMs had been delivered.