New Delhi: India‘s locally designed and developed laser-guided anti-tank missile continued its successful run during trials, with a hit on target at a longer range than previously attempted, in a boost to the ‘Make in India‘ effort of the Narendra Modi government.

The latest test were held today from an Arjun Main Battle Tank at the KK Ranges at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. Similar tests, at lesser ranges, had been successfully carried out on Sep. 22 at the same location.

“The Anti-Tank Guided Missile, or ATGM, employs a tandem HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles in ranges from 1.5 km to 5 km,” a Ministry of Defence statement said.

The ATGM has been developed with multiple-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from 120mm rifled gun of Arjun battle tanks. The laser-guided missile is developed by Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) in Pune, in association with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), also in Pune, and Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE) at Dehradun.

India’s Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh congratulated the Defence Reseach and Development Organisation (DRDO) for this successful feat. Defence Research and Development Secretary and DRDO Chairman Dr G. Satheesh Reddy too sent his congratulatory message to the DRDO personnel for this achievement, which paves the way towards Modi’s call for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat‘ (Self-Reliant India).

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