Israeli soldier with MR/LR type Spike launcher. (Natan Flayer/Wikimedia Commons)In a bid to boost its operational preparedness, the Indian Army has placed orders for Israeli Spike anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) through the emergency procurement route, PTI has reported.
The missiles, manufactured by Israeli Rafale Advanced Defence Systems, have a range of four km and operate in a fire and forget mode. The missiles can be launched from several platforms with ground, vehicle and helicopter-launched variants and have a range of four kilometres.
The decision to procure the missiles was taken post the Balakot strikes in February and orders have been placed this month after senior officials of the military made a presentation to the new Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The emergency procurement provision, cleared by the earlier Minister of Defence N Sitharaman, allows the forces to make procurements upto Rs 300 crore on a priority basis. It has been earlier reported that the Army is looking to procure about 12 launchers and around 250 missiles of the system.
Deliveries under the new system are expected to complete within three months, extendable upto six months. The deliveries will help meet operational capabilities as India’s DRDO works on the indigenous Nag ATGM system. Successful trials of the system were carried three days ago in Pokhran range.
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