It is a significant advancement in India’s missile program

The DRDO on Sunday achieved another significant milestone in its ongoing strategic programme by successfully test firing indigenously developed Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QR-SAM) against live targets for the first time. 

The high speed missile capable of deceiving enemy radars was flight tested twice in final operational configuration with radar mounted on a vehicle and weapons on the launcher. It destroyed British-made Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Banshee meeting all mission objectives. 

Sources said the missiles were fired from launching complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off Odisha coast seconds after the pilot-less target aircraft was flown as target from the launching complex-I. 

“The missiles with many state-of-the-art technologies engaged two live targets at different ranges and altitudes. Though five development trials of the missile have been conducted from canister-based launcher so far, this is for the first time that it destroyed live targets,” said a defence official associated with the mission.

QR-SAM is being developed for Indian Army with search and track on move capability in a very short reaction time. The entire mission was captured by various electro optical tracking systems, radars and telemetry systems. “The precision strike missile achieved direct hit,” the official told The Express.

Yet to get a formal name, QR-SAM is India’s first missile which has been developed in a short time as per the requirement of the Army. While the project was sanctioned in July 2014 with a budget of `476.43 crore, the missile was delivered within three years.

The missile can attain high frequency with manoeuvrability which will provide considerable advantage to the armed forces. It can destroy multiple targets 30 km away in less than one minute. Considered to be a unique system in its class, the missile is expected to supplement medium range surface-to-air missile Akash.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated Team DRDO and industries involved in the project for successful flight testing of the state-of-the-art QR-SAM against live aerial targets and achieving the significant milestone. It is a significant advancement in India’s missile programme, he tweeted.