Hindustan Times has quoted Indian Air Force officials as saying that preparations are on to test SAMAR 2 soon. Its range i.e. strike capability is about 30 kilometers. According to the report, one of the officials, on the condition of anonymity, said that the first firing trial will be done by December. The Air Force has developed this air defense system in collaboration with two industry partners.
The special thing is that SAMAR 1 has been prepared before SAMAR 2. It is providing its services to the Indian Air Force. The range of SAMAR 1 is 8 kilometers.
What is special in SAMAR system?
Russian origin missiles are used in the SAMAR defense system. Russian missiles designed for air-to-air strikes are used in the SAMAR system in such a way that targets in the air can be destroyed by hitting the surface. R-73E missiles are used in the SAMAR 1 system, while R-27 missiles will be used in SAMAR 2.
The SAMAR 2 system is generally meant to use air-to-air missiles that have outlived their shelf life and are not safe for air-to-air strikes. They will be used by firing them in surface-to-air mode.
What threats can SAMAR deal with?
The Samar-2 air defence system is capable of destroying a variety of enemy aerial weapons including fighter jets, helicopters and UAVs.
According to media reports, the Air Force’s 7 Base Repair Depot (BRD) Tughlakabad played a key role in developing the SAMAR system. The team carefully made the necessary changes in the R-27 missiles so that they could be fired from ground to air.
