Indian Army gets portable Igla-S Air defence system

• The first shipment of 24 Igla-S Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) from Russia, along with 100 missiles, has been received by the Indian Army.
• The procurement of these systems is aimed at enhancing the Indian Army’s Very Short-Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) capabilities, particularly in the high mountainous terrain along the northern border.
• India signed a contract with Russia in November last year for 120 launchers and 400 missiles. While the first batch has come from Russia, the rest of these systems will be made in India through Transfer of Technology (ToT) from Russia by an Indian company.

ABOUT IGLA-S:

• It is a man-portable air defence system (MANPADS) developed by
• It is known in the West as SA-24 Grinch.
• It entered service with the Russian Army in 2004.
• It can be fired by an individual or crew to bring down an enemy aircraft.
• It has the capability of bringing down low-flying aircraft. It can also identify and neutralise air targets, such as cruise missiles and drones.
• The Igla-S system comprises of combat equipment, including the 9M342 missile and the 9P522 launching mechanism, along with maintenance equipment, including the 9V866-2 mobile test station and the 9F719-2 test set.
• It has an effective range upto 6 km.
• The limiting altitude of effective target destruction for the “Igla-S” complex is 3.5 km.
• It has a heavier, more powerful warhead to maximize damage capabilities, as well as contact and timed fuzes for increased attack range.
• The warhead is a high-explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) and weighs 2.5 kg.