CABINET COMMITTEE ON SECURITY (CCS) CLEARS MR-SAM

CCS headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cleared on February 22, 2017, medium range surface-to-air defence missile (MR-SAM) system from Israel for the Army which will cost about ` 17,000 crore (about $2.5 billion). MRSAM has been jointly developed by the DRDO and Israeli Aircraft Industry and can engage enemy aircraft, UAVs and other aerial platforms at ranges between 50 km and 70 km. It is planned to induct about five regiments and it is expected to start deploying in 2023. India and Israel are jointly developing similar systems for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Navy. MR-SAM was cleared for the IAF in 2009, but deliveries are yet to begin. The Naval programme is called long range surface-to-air missile system (LR-SAM) and would be deployed on its warships, tests of which have already been carried out successfully from the stealth guided-missile destroyer INS Kolkata. Bharat Dynamics Limited will produce the missiles and several other Indian companies like Bharat Electron-