Nag (Cobra) Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) - Program
The MP-ATGM anti-tank missile is an individual anti-tank missile project. The Indian Army may procure up to 40,000 missile rounds over the next 20 years through 2040. It was approved by the Indian Ministry of Defense on January 27, 2015, but its actual development time is earlier. MPATGM was sanctioned to DRDO with the scope work that included design and development of a third generation ATGM with a Launch Tube (LT) and Launcher and a Command Launch Unit (CLU), and demonstration of the system performance through ground testing and flight testing. DRDO entrusted the developmental work to Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL)–one of its Hyderabad-based laboratories–as the nodal agency with the support of sister DRDO laboratories; RCI, HEMRL, TBRL, ARDE, and IRDE.
Design & development of MPATGM weapon system is undertaken for deployment by Infantry and Parachute Battalions of the Army. During the year, sub-systems for control flight trial were acceptance tested and lined up for missile integration which was followed by successful Program Control Flight Trials of the missile system in September 2018.
The domestically-made MPATGM missile project launched in 1983 had only achieved initial test firing, and even failed to achieve target testing. Although the Indian MPATGM missile claimed to be similar to the third-generation missiles such as the Israeli spike and the American Javelin, it emphasized the two capabilities of "fire and forget" attack after launch, but its long development process made the Indian military extremely dissatisfied and even expressed its lack of confidence. In addition, the Indian MPATGM missile had a short range of about 2500 meters, and it has also been confirmed that it is necessary to solve the reliability problem of the guidance head under high temperature conditions.
The Indian Army originally planned to start the process to purchase related missiles once the Javelin-MR missile passed the relevant tests. The Indian Defense Acquisition Commission (DAC) also prepared an agreement with the Israeli government to negotiate the import of Spike-MR anti-tank missiles. But in the end this effort was abandoned. This was at least the second time India had given up buying the missile. The original contract plans to purchase 170 launchers, 4,500 missiles, and 15 training simulators. Spike-MR is the world's third-generation light anti-tank missile. It has the ability to "fire and forget" autonomous guidance. It has excellent performance and top attack capability, which can destroy most existing main battle tanks.
According to information, DRDO started promoting this model since 2005. It had been studied, and its research and development basis is the long-term difficult-to-produce Nag heavy anti-tank missile, which can be considered as a light variant of Nag. The Nag missile, which was developed in the 1990s, has been busy for decades. Although it has not yet entered service, it has reached the final stage of the project. There are technical achievements, so the MP-ATGM project can rely on ready-made technical foundations. The overall The research and development process is still faster than that of Nag.
Of course this project has been delayed. It was originally scheduled to be delivered in 2018. For this reason, the Indian Army rejected the plan to purchase 8,356 spike anti-tank missiles in 2017. As a result, DRDO released pigeons. Subsequently, under the personal lobbying of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Indian army restarted the spike procurement plan in 2018. However, after DRDO promised to deliver in 2021, the Indian army abolished the second long nail mass purchase plan, waiting for MP-ATGM, and then DRDO really lived up to expectations, and it was delayed again until now. Fortunately, the Indian army kept an eye out for the second time and purchased a batch of spike anti-tank missiles in small batches for emergency.
On 11 December 2018, Western media reported that India once again confirmed the decision to abandon the purchase of Israel's elite spike anti-tank missiles. This decision, coupled with the extremely slow progress of India's domestically produced MPATGM anti-tank missile, will make India unable to deal with world-class main battle tanks and light tanks such as Type 99A and Type 15.
The Indian Ministry of Defense confirmed that it will cancel the US$500 million contract for the purchase of Spike anti-tank missiles from Israel's Rafael Company. An Indian government official who asked not to be named told reporters seeking the latest developments in this project that the Indian government in New Delhi has decided not to purchase Spike anti-tank missiles from Israel Rafael during the development of the country’s MPATGM missile, in order to ensure the development space of domestic missiles.
The Indian Ministry of Defense issued a statement that on September 15th and 16th, the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully conducted two successful operations at the Ahmednagar Proving Ground in Maharashtra. Two flight tests of new portable anti-tank missiles. In addition, on 20 August 2018, DRDO also conducted a target test on the helicopter-borne anti-tank missile Helina at multiple shooting ranges in Rajasthan. For a time, the development of India's domestically-made anti-tank missiles went uncharacteristically well.
The Indian military believed that domestically produced MPATGM missiles would not have the possibility of mass service before 2021, and reconsidered importing Israeli spike anti-tank missiles. This is actually at least the second time to restart the purchase of this missile. Its purpose is to solve the serious gap in the number of anti-tank missiles of the Indian Army that will appear between 2019 and 2020.
On March 13, 2019 DRDO successfully tested the MPATGM in the Rajasthan desert. This was followed by another successful test next day on March 14, 2019. The missile was tested again on 11 September 2019. A man portable tripod launcher was used in the test. The target of the test was a dummy tank, which was hit in top attack mode.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested the final deliverable configuration of Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) on January 11, 2022. The indigenously developed anti-tank missile is a low weight, fire & forget missile and is launched from a man portable launcher, integrated with thermal sight. The missile impacted the designated target and destroyed it. The final impact event was captured on camera and the test has validated the minimum range successfully.
The test was to prove the consistent performance for the minimum range. All the mission objectives were met. The missile has miniaturised infrared imaging seeker and advanced avionics for on-board control and guidance. The missile performance has been proven for the maximum range in earlier test trials. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO for the consistent performance of the anti-tank missile and said that this is an important step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat in advanced technology-based defence system development. Secretary Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy congratulated the team for the excellent performance of the missile during the test.
On 13 January 2022, India's DRDO released a video confirming that India's domestically produced MP-ATGM individual anti-tank missile successfully conducted a live ammunition target test on the 11th, while emphasizing that this test is the final " Delivery configuration" status, which marks the end of the MP-ATGM project. The Indian army has twice rejected its plan to purchase large-scale Spike anti-tank missiles from Israel for this bomb, and its support for it can be said to be unprecedented. In terms of design indicators, this missile is indeed an advanced model, which deserves attention and vigilance.
