• Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully conducted three successive flight-trials of Very Short-Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) from Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

• These tests were carried out against high-speed targets flying at very low altitude.

• VSHORADS is a man-portable air-defence system designed and developed indigenously by Research Centre Imarat (RCI) in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories and Indian industry partners.

• The missile is propelled by a dual-thrust solid motor and meant for neutralising low-altitude aerial threats at short ranges. 

• The design of the missile including launcher has been highly optimised to ensure easy portability.

• During all the three flight-tests, the missiles intercepted and completely destroyed the targets having reduced thermal signature mimicking low flying drones at different flying conditions.

• The flight-tests were carried out in final deployment configuration where in two field operators carried out weapon readiness, target acquisition and missile firing.

• The flight data captured by various range instruments like telemetry, electro-optical tracking system and radar deployed by Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, confirmed the pin-point accuracy and established the unique capability of VSHORADS missile system in neutralising drones along with other classes of aerial threats.

• The flight-tests were witnessed by senior officials of DRDO, Armed Forces and development and production partners.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)