Army to get new air defence boost with Rs 30,000 crore QR-SAM deal | India News

NEW DELHI: The defence ministry will quickly take up the case for a preliminary nod to a Rs 30,000 crore proposal to procure three regiments of the new indigenous fast response floor to air missile (QR-SAM) methods for the Army.The Rajnath Singh-led defence acquisitions council will contemplate granting acceptance of necessity (AoN) for the highly-mobile QR-SAM methods, that are designed to intercept hostile fighters, helicopters and drones at a spread up to 25-30 km, later this month.The transfer comes quickly after India’s current multi-layered air defence community performed a vital function in thwarting a number of waves of Turkish-origin drones and Chinese missiles launched by Pakistan throughout Operation Sindoor – the May 7-10 hostilities.The DRDO and the Army have over the past three-four years examined the QR-SAM methods towards high-speed aerial targets mimicking varied sorts of threats to consider their functionality below completely different day and evening operational situations. Defence PSUs Bharat Electronics and Bharat Dynamics will co-produce the QR-SAM methods.“The QR-SAM systems can operate on the move with search and track capability and fire at short halts. They are tailor-made to move along with tanks and infantry combat vehicles to provide them air defence in the tactical battlefield,” an official stated.The Army Air Defence (AAD), which carried out exceedingly nicely throughout Operation Sindoor, in truth, requires 11 regiments of the QR-SAM, even because it progressively additionally inducts regiments of the indigenous Akash system, which has an interception vary of about 25-km at current.The induction of the QR-SAM methods will add to the prevailing air defence community of the IAF and the Army, which ranges from the long-range Russian S-400 ‘Triumf’ surface-to-air missile methods (380 km interception vary) and Barak-8 medium vary SAM methods (70 km), collectively developed with Israel, to the Russian shoulder-fired Igla-S missiles (6 km), the upgraded L-70 anti-aircraft weapons (3.5 km) and the indigenous built-in drone detection and interdiction methods (1km-2 km).While the DRDO can be readying the very short-range air defence missile methods (VSHORADS), which have a 6 km interception vary, the actual game-changer will likely be an air defence system with a 350 km vary being developed below the formidable Project Kusha.India plans to operationally deploy this long-range system by 2028-2029, with the defence ministry in Sept 2023 approving the AoN for procurement of 5 of its squadrons for the IAF at a value of Rs 21,700 crore, as was first reported by TOI.Also learn: India goals to deploy indigenous long-range air defence system by 2028-2029