SAMAR air defence missile system

February 20, 2024

The Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out successful firing trials of its in-house designed and developed SAMAR air defence missile system during Astrashakti 2023 exercise at Suryalanka Air Force Station in Andhra Pradesh.
The SAMAR system was part of the exercise for the first time, and it successfully achieved firing trial objectives in different engagement scenarios.
The air defence system SAMAR (Surface to Air Missile for Assured Retaliation), has been developed by a unit under IAF’s Maintenance Command.
The system can engage aerial threats with missiles operating at a speed range of 2 to 2.5 Mach.
The SAMAR system consists of a twin turret launch platform with the capability of launching two missiles in single and salvo mode depending upon the threat scenario.
The system is credited with a maximum range of 10–12 km and is used against low-flying aerial targets.
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.