DRDO, Navy successfully test short-range, anti-air missile to protect ships

The defence system uses a fibre-optic, gyroscope-based, inertial guidance mechanism

Indian naval warships just became more heavily protected and difficult to strike with aircraft and anti-ship missiles, with the successful flight-test of the Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) on Friday.

The VL-SRSAM, which the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has indigenously developed for the Indian Navy, was fired from an Indian warship at a high-speed aerial target that was mimicking an incoming enemy aircraft.

India’s most modern naval warships, such as the Visakhapatnam-class destroyers and Nilgiri-class frigates, are equipped with multiple layers of defence against their biggest threats: enemy aircraft and sea-skimming anti-ship missiles.

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