Indian Navy acquires new strike ability

TIL Desk/National/Visakhapatnam/The eponymous Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MR-SAM), jointly developed by India and Israel to defend the navy’s warships against incoming anti-ship missiles, achieved a crucial landmark on Friday, May 17.

MR-SAMs fired simultaneously from different vessels were directed to two different targets by a single warship, allowing a naval flotilla to reduce its give-away electromagnetic signature.

Warships typically switch on their multi-function surveillance and target acquisition radar (MF-STAR) while firing an MR-SAM — usually when an incoming anti-ship missile is still over a hundred kilometres away.

The radar guides the missile towards the target, bringing it close enough to allow the missile’s seeker to home onto the anti-ship missile, and strike it precisely while it is still 70 km away.