Dhruvastra Missile:
India’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) recently gave the green light to several capital acquisition proposals, including the indigenous Dhruvastra short-range air-to-surface missile.
- It is a helicopter-launched anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system.
- It is a short-range air-to-surface missile.
- It was indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
- Dhruvastra is the Air Force’s version of Helina (Helicopter-launched Nag missile) ATGM.
- It is equipped with Imaging Infrared (IIR) seeker and operates in “lock on before launch” mode.
- The fire and forget missile has a minimum range of 500 metres and a maximum range of 7 kilometres.
- It can be launched from an altitude of up to 4 kilometres and can hit targets moving at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per hour.
- The missile can engage targets both in direct hit mode as well as top attack mode.
- It works in all kinds of weather, during the day or night, and in various types of terrain, such as deserts, plains, hills and forests.
