VSHORADS: Man Portable Air Defence Missile Meant To Plug Gaps On LAC With China Tested

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully conducted two consecutive flight tests of the indigenous Very Short Range Air Defence System missile off the east coast.

This missile, also known as VSHORADS, has been designed and developed indigenously by DRDO's Research Centre Imarat (RCI) in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories and Indian Industry Partners.

The VSHORADS missile is a Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPAD) that utilizes many innovative technologies, including a miniaturized Reaction Control System (RCS) and integrated avionics.

The missile is intended to neutralize low-altitude aerial threats at short ranges and is propelled by a dual-thrust solid motor. The missile's design, including the launcher, has been optimized to ensure easy portability.

The missile system, being man-portable and lightweight compared to other missile systems, can be deployed quickly in the mountains close to the Line of Actual Control with China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

“When it comes to man portable air defence missiles, there was a critical gap in the Army’s inventory, especially for the eastern and northern borders, though not so much for the western borders with Pakistan, for which India has the Soviet-vintage OSA AK missile systems,” an unnamed officer in the Indian Army was quoted by the Indian Express as saying.

India and China have been locked in a tense military standoff along the entire LAC since May 2020. Troops from the two sides clashed in Arunachal's Tawang in December last year.

In September of last year, DRDO conducted two successful test flights of the VSHORADS missile from a ground-based portable launcher at the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.

In January 2023, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the procurement of the Very Short Range Air Defence System or VSHORAD (IR Homing) missile system.