Nag, the “fire and forget” third generation Anti-Tank Guided Missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, failed to impress the Army during its trials held in Rajasthan. While its induction into the Indian Army has been delayed for a long time, recent trials held in Rajasthan yielded only a 25 per cent success rate in terms of hitting the target. Top Army officials have reportedly expressed their strong apprehension and disagreement over the missile’s performance claims to the DRDO.
Nag is part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program of DRDO and is based on an imaging infra-red (IIR) passive seeker for ensuring a high accuracy. Earlier, plans for a wire guided system for Nag were shelved by DRDO. As per reports, even the Namica (Nag missile carrier), for the land version of Nag, had only partially satisfied expectations of Army and DRDO officials during trials.
A helicopter version of Nag, termed Helina, is also on its way. Unlike the Namica, which works on a ‘lock-on before launch’ system, Helina uses a technology called ‘lock-on after launch’. Meanwhile, the Army, which has been awaiting the induction of Nag for a long time after having placed an order for more than 400 missiles and about 13 Namicas, is left with no option other than to go for the US Javelin ATGMs.
For the time being, however, more second generation Russian Konkurs M ATGMS, already being used by the Army, will be purchased. This is because the US is ready to sell its Javelins only via Foreign Military Sales which though quick, will turn out to be an expensive affair with the Centre already ha-ving spent more than Rs 1,700 crore on Nag. The Army, which is also using French Milan ATMs, was also disappointed with the failure of Israeli Spike ATGMs.