Ever since the start of the standoff between India and China, which is still ongoing, the Indian army realized that there are many areas where the army was unprepared for the challenge, such as infrastructure, light tanks, armed drones, armored troops, carriers, and so on. As a result of the conflict, there has been significant progress in these sections, such as the development of new alternative highways to improve connectivity, the upgrading of bases, and the establishment of emergency airstrips along the NH 44 highway of Jammu and Kashmir Ladakh. The leasing of armed drones from Israel, issuing rfis for light tanks and procuring Kalyani, M4 Mahindra, aslv, and so on, precision, guided compact, and lightweight multi-barrel rocket. Launching system was one of many sectors where the Indian army encountered inefficiencies, and currently, the Indian army is looking to purchase precision kill systems. India requires precision killing systems because of the challenges faced by its current MBS Pinaka, BM21 grad and BM30.
SMIRK are the multi-barrel rocket launcher systems in Indian stock, and these MBS are mounted on trucks like Smirk and Pinaka and are quite long and find it difficult to traverse. Ladies mountainous terrain, due to the region’s lack of adequate road infrastructure and the Indian army said, there is an urgent requirement to procure MRPKS capable of day and night acquisition and precision engagement of targets as a result rather than an MBRL. The Indian army is considering a medium-range precision kill system capable of modern-day warfare. Unlike traditional multi-barrel rocket launchers, this system will be very different. The MRPKS can be used in planes, deserts, semi-deserts, mountainous terrain, and high altitude areas that can destroy enemy targets with precision and minimal collateral damage needed for loitering munitions.
A loitering munition is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle commonly referred to as drone. It can loiter in the air and provide real-time imagery to the operator on the ground once launched and when directed attack targets by self-destructing enter it. Last year, it was used by Azerbaijan against Armenia leading to the latter’s defeat over Nagorno-Karabakh. The Indian air force also possesses the Israeli hara loitering munition Indian army plans to buy 10 sets of medium range precision, kill systems each with 120 loitering munitions to enable its artillery units to detect, engage, strike and destroy static and moving targets with pinpoint accuracy. It will provide a breakthrough against dynamic and well-defended static targets through real-time acquisition and precision strike.
The army’s request for information clearly stated that the weapon systems, which will also include 10 launches and 30 forward observation stations, will be designed, developed and manufactured in India by the defense acquisition procedure. 2020, the sole manual guiding all capital procurements for the Indian military. The army has listed in the request for information the following characteristics: the MRPK system should possess range. The systems must have a range of 40 kilometers loiter altitude capability to loiter above ground level, at an altitude of minimum 1000 meters launch altitude, four thousand meters or more accuracy. Five meters cep circular error of probability, warhead types, high, explosive pre-fragmented and anti-armor warhead weight should be eight kilograms endurance.
The munition should have the endurance of minimum two hours. The loitering munitions should have a shelf life of at least 15 years. According to the request for information, future battlefield requirements necessitate the use of precision-guided munitions to achieve first-strike kills. This requirement is exacerbated by the wide spectrum of conflict ranging from sub-conventional operations to full-scale war. The army also signed a contract in September 2021 to purchase 120 payload-capable sky striker drones. The sky striker drones will be manufactured in Bengaluru by Adani’s alpha design in collaboration with Israel’s alert system.
Albert systems described the sky striker as a silent, invisible, and surprise attacker who delivers the utmost precision and reliability, providing a critical advantage in the modern battlefield.
