In a significant boost to Indian Army's Air Defence and Capability development along Northern Borders, the first Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) Regiment is being raised in the Eastern Theatre.

Defence spokesperson Mahendra Rawat said that the Regiment has been equipped with MRSAM Weapon System indigenously developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The MRSAM regiment will provide point and area air defence for ground assets against a wide range of threats, including fighter aircraft, UAVs, helicopters, guided and unguided munitions, sub-sonic and supersonic cruise missiles, etc.

The MRSAM weapon system which is also called the 'Abhra' Weapon System is a state of the art medium range air defence weapon system and is a joint venture of DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) with active participation from Indian public and private defence industry partners including MSMEs.

The MRSAM weapon system is capable of engaging multiple targets up to a range of 70km in severe saturation scenarios. The missile is powered by indigenously developed rocket motor and control system for achieving high manoeuvrability during the terminal phase.

The weapon system comprises missiles, combat management system (CMS), mobile launcher systems (MLS), advanced long range radar, mobile power system (MPS), radar power system (RPS), re-loader vehicle (RV) and field service vehicle (FSV).

About Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile:

This weapon system also called the ‘Abhra’ Weapon System is a state-of-the-art medium-range air defence weapon system.

It is a joint venture of DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and is produced at Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL).

It is designed to destroy hostile aircraft, helicopters cruise missiles and drones at a 70km range.