DRDO brought two important tableaux to the prestigious Republic Day parade 2021. Showcasing the major achievements of the year, were LCA Navy take-off and landing on board the aircraft carrier and the complete family of Anti Tank Guided Missiles.
Light Combat Aircraft Tejas has achieved a major technology capability milestone by landing and taking off from the Aircraft Carrier of IN. The LCA Navy tableau celebrated the successful demonstration of carrier operations of LCA Navy from INS Vikramaditya on the sea.
The tableau of LCA Navy showed landing, takeoff and lift operation, three most important operations required to be met by an aircraft onboard a carrier ship. LCA Navy successfully demonstrated landing on a 90 meters runway and take-off from a short run of 145 meters in 2020.
LCA Navy is India’s first 4+ Generation STOBAR (Ski-Jump Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) fighter aircraft capable of operating from an aircraft carrier.
Symbolizing India’s strides in anti-tank missile technologies was a tableau showcasing the full complement of DRDO’s Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) systems. This tableau showcases NAG, HELINA, MPATGM, SANT and Laser Guided ATGM for MBT Arjun.
NAG is a 3rd generation fire and forget missile developed for mechanized formations to engage heavily fortified enemy tanks. HELINA, the Helicopter launched anti-tank missile is a 3rd generation fire and forget missile with a range of 7 km designed and developed for integration on a weaponised version of Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).
MPATGM is a Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile with a range of 2.5 km with Fire and Forget and Top Attack capabilities for infantry use. SANT is a smart Stand-off Anti-Tank Missile being developed for launch from Mi-35 Helicopter for Air Force anti-tank operations. ATGM for MBT Arjun is a laser-guided PGM (Precision Guided Munition) which is launched from the 120 mm rifled gun of Arjun tank to engage and defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured targets.
LCA Tejas model was also part of IAF Tableau. Other DRDO products on Rajpath were Akash surface-to-air missile (SAM) and Astra air-to-air missile (AAM) on IAF Tableau.
DRDO has been a design and development agency for Armed Forces and to reinforce the spirit of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. DRDO is partnering with all stakeholders of the defence ecosystem, including academia, industry and services in developing state of the art defence systems.
