Nag Missile System
Nag (Sanskrit: नाग meaning cobra) is India's third generation "Fire-and-forget" anti-tank missile. It is an all weather, top attack missile with a range of 3 to 7 km.
The missile uses an 8 kg tandem HEAT warhead capable of defeating modern armour including ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) and composite armour. Nag uses Imaging Infra-Red (IIR) guidance with day and night capability. Mode of launch for the IIR seeker is LOBL (Lock on Before Launch). Nag can be mounted on an infantry vehicle; a helicopter launched version will also be available with integration work being carried out with the HAL Dhruv.
Separate versions for the Army and the Air Force are being developed. For the Army, the missiles will be carried by specialist carrier vehicles (NAMICA-Nag Missile Carrier) equipped with a thermal imager for target acquisition. NAMICA is a modified BMP-2 IFV licence produced as "Sarath" in India. The carriers are capable of carrying four ready-to-fire missiles in the observation/launch platform which can be elevated with more missiles available for reload within the carrier. For the Air Force, a nose-mounted thermal imaging system has been developed for guiding the missile's trajectory "Helina". The missile has a complete fiberglass structure and weighs around 42 kg.
Nag was test fired for the 45th time on 19 March 2005 from the Test Range at Ahmednagar (Maharastra), signalling the completion of the developmental phase. It will now enter production phase, subject to user trials and acceptance by the Indian Army.
Further versions of the missile may make use of an all-weather Milli Metric Wave (MMW) seeker as an additional option. This seeker has reportedly been developed and efforts are on to integrate it into the missile.
Read more about this topic: Integrated Guided Missile Program
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