Barak-8 missile

Barak-8 missile
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Highlights

India on September 20 successfully test-fired the Barak-8 surface-to-air missile, jointly developed with Israel, from a defence test facility off the Odisha coast.

India on September 20 successfully test-fired the Barak-8 surface-to-air missile, jointly developed with Israel, from a defence test facility off the Odisha coast. The advanced missile is jointly designed and developed by DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Israel's Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure.

The missile has the ability to hit targets within 70 km to 90 km radius. It is designed to defend against any airborne threat, apart from aircraft and helicopters, and can also intercept supersonic aircraft and missiles. It is a nuclear-capable ballistic missile, weighing around 2.7 tonnes and is 4.5 metres in length.

Barak 8 (the Hebrew word for Lightning) also known as LR-SAM is an Indian-Israeli surface-to-air missile (SAM), designed to defend against any type of airborne threat including aircraft, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, and UAVs as well as cruise missiles and combat jets.

The Barak 8 has a length of about 4.5 meters, a diameter of 0.225 meters[6] at missile body, and 0.54 meters at the booster stage, a wingspan of 0.94 meters and weighs 275 kg including a 60 kg warhead which detonates at proximity. It possesses high degrees of maneuverability at target interception range. Unlike other defence systems, Barak 8 can be installed on naval ships as well as on the ground, giving it a mobility advantage.

India is the first country in the world to incorporate the Israeli-made ground-based Barak 8 surface-to-air missile into its arsenal; The missile is currently used by the Israeli navy and will soon be incorporated into the German navy. The Barak 8 can also defend against the Russian-made anti-warship Yakhont missile. The Yakhont, which can be shot from land at sea, has a range of over 175 miles.

While the long range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) variant is meant for the Indian Navy, the medium range surface-to-air missile (MR-SAM) version has been developed for the IAF. The missile system can detect incoming enemy aerial targets i.e. aircraft or anti-ship missile over 100 km away and destroy them at range out to 70 km, said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon session of the Parliament.

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