The new SAMAR-1 air-defence system uses an indigenous Ashok Leyland multi-axle vehicle mounted with a set of refurbished R-73E air-to-air missile missiles on rail launchers

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has completed development of its Surface to Air Missile for Assured Retaliation (SAMAR) system and the weapon has entered an initial production phase, the IAF told Janes at the Aero India 2023 show in Bangalore, which runs from 13 to 17 February.

An IAF official said the first batch consisting of five SAMAR-1 production units is ready to be delivered to the IAF's Missile Unit (likely its air-defence missile squadrons). Further orders are expected from the IAF, the official said.

The SAMAR is a short-range air-defence system jointly developed by IAF's 7 Base Repair Depot (BRD) and 11 BRD in association with Indian private-sector companies Simran Flowtech Industries and Yamazuki Denki.

The SAMAR-1 system uses the IAF's existing inventory of shelf-life-expired Russian Vympel R-73E infrared‐guided air-to-air missiles (AAMs) for the surface-to-air role. The shelf-life-expired units are refurbished before being integrated into a launch platform and firing circuits, which were developed by the IAF.

According to the IAF official, the SAMAR-1 system completed 17 test-firings before entering production. The system is credited with a maximum range of 10–12 km and is used against low-flying aerial targets.