NAG anti-tank missiles made more accurate

NAG anti-tank missiles made more accurate
R SHANKAR

HYDERABAD, JAN 22: India has developed a new `Fire and Forget' (F&F)technology for the NAG range of anti-tank missiles.

Announcing this at the annual meeting of the Aeronautical Society of Indiahere on Friday, Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai, chief controller of research anddevelopment (R&D), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO),said the F&F technology was unique and first of its kind in the world.According to him, the special infrared-seekers first hunt for the targetfollowing which the missile `recognises' the target and slams into it usingspecial guidance techniques.

``With this, NAG would become the first third-generation anti-tank missilein the world,'' Pillai said in a special talk on `Advances in MissileTechnology'.

The F&F guidance system uses special imaging infrared-seeker and millimetricwave-seeker technologies capable of hunting targets with great precision.The next step would be to provide to NAG special embedded `on-board hunters'that can hunt for targets using `day seekers' and `day-and-night seekers'.Efforts are on to miniaturise these frontline technologies to be in tandemwith warfare technology, according to Pillai.

He said it would make NAG more accurate and deadly.

The DRDO research chief said Defence scientists had also developed a unique`Anti-Sea Skimmer' missile for the Navy which could automatically recognisean incoming missile, lock on to its pathway and destroy it. This would beadded to the Trishul range and would give the Naval vessels and keyinstallations in Naval bases a protective shield, he added.

Pillai also said AGNI-II would have a unique on-board energy managementsystem and an on-flight guidance process using navigational sensortechnology. The Akash range of missiles too would get multi-targetcapability, playing the dual role as a shield against incoming missiles.

In an indirect reference to the US sanctions, Pillai said: ``Today, we haveoperational AGNI-II and Prithvi. We have mastered propulsion technology,guidance and control and introduced innovative software packages, algorithmsand new devices. These developments have taken place in spite of MissileTechnology Control Regime and technology denial from certain industriallydeveloped countries.

``Each technology has given us important clues to develop a uniquehypersonic reusable missile. This is the dream and mission of Dr AbdulKalam, the chief architect of India's missile programme,'' he said. Thehypersonic futuristic missile would combine features such an stealth, speed,accuracy and can spew fire on targets far and beyond. The delivery systemcan automatically come back and be reused.