Article Posted on : - Aug 26, 2014

India's Surface-to-air 'Akash' missile. A DRDO photo

HYDERABAD (PTI): India is working on developing a man-portable anti-tank guided missile capable of being fired from shoulders, a top defence official has said.

"We are going to have surface-to-air missile which will be on the move, tracking...We are also working (on) missiles...stop and launch within a few seconds. We are also working on man-portable anti-tank missile which can be fired from shoulders. We are planning to bring out these systems within the next four years," Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister Avinash Chander said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an international conference on advanced avionics, Chander, who is also the Chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said "if you see, our cycle-time used to be 8 years to 10 years for the systems...now we are talking of delivering it in 4-5 years."

"The aim is (in the) next five years you will see at least five different types of missiles covering different spectrums altogether," Chander said, adding that they are for different roles, including surface-to-surface, anti-tank, cruise, longer range and strategic.

Asked when the country would stop importing missiles, he said the aim is to have adequate capability in this field by 2020-22, adding, an infra-red (IR) seeker detector facility would be set up in the country. "Our target is thereafter (2022) we should not have to import any class of missiles."

Chander said DRDO is working on multi-range missiles, and also short-range surface-to-air missiles.

Surface-to-air short-range missile would have two vehicle configurations -- one for search and tracking and other for multiple missiles being fired. It will be given to Army but it can be used by other forces also. "It is going to be a potent missile. We are also working on Akash Mark-II."

"We are working on other variations also, so that we have total envelope of surface-to-air capabilities. In future, we will aim to work on longer range missile of 200-plus kms.

We are working on cruise missiles which will cover ship launch, air launch, submarine launch and ground launch versions. We are expecting the second test-launch of Nirbhay (missile) to happen within a month," he said.