The Indian Army has signed a deal with Solar Industries Nagpur to supply 'Nagastra' loitering munition to the Indian Army.

A Solar Industries official said that with the government's initiative to bring Atmanirbharta into ammunition and defence systems, the first indigenous Loiter Munition, Nagastra-1, has been designed and developed by Economics Explosives Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of Solar Industries Nagpur, in association with Z-Motion, Bangalore.

Solar officials said the tender for the drones was issued by the Indian Army a few months back and Solar emerged as the winner in the competition after trials and other due procedures. Till now, such drones have been acquired from foreign vendors, including companies from Israel and Poland. The official added that the Made in India content in this loitering munition is more than 75 percent and it beats various competitive offerings from Israel and Poland.

According to the official, Nagastra-1 has a maximum range of 30 km in the autonomous mode of operation and 15 kilometres in man-in-the-loop mode. It can loiter over a target for a maximum of 60 minutes and has an accuracy of less than 2 metres.

The fixed-wing electric-powered UAV uses GPS for precision strikes and is capable of destroying various soft-skinned targets using its pre-fragmented high explosive warhead. The munition also carries a day-and-night camera for surveillance as well.

The Nagastra-1 in its 'Kamikaze' mode can search and destroy any target by crashing into it. In 'Kamikaze mode,' it can neutralise any hostile threat with a GPS-enabled precision strike with an accuracy of 2 metres. If the target is not found or the mission is aborted, the munition can be called back and recovered using a parachute.

EEL is also working on another loitering munition, Nagastra-2, which has a range of more than 25 km and an endurance of 90 minutes.

The growing participation of private industries in the manufacture of armament and ammunition is a major boost in the ‘Aatma Nirbharta’ of armed forces. The development and manufacture of such world-class weapons by private industry for the first time is a big achievement for the country.

Image source: Twitter