Status
Nag was test fired as part of user validation trials on 16 July 2010, and was destined to be inducted into the Indian army. But the final test of the missile with certain modifications to launch pad and the target settings with respect to range, failed in user trials conducted in August 2012 in Rajasthan.
Nag was successfully test fired for the second day in a row on 8 August 2008, from the Test Range at Pokhran, Rajastan, marking the completion of the developmental tests. The DRDO and Indian Army plan to hold the user trial shortly. These trials will be the final trials to decide the induction of the missiles. The NAMICA carrier successfully completed its amphibious trials in the Indira Gandhi Canal at Rajastan on 8 August 2008.
The Indian Army has placed an order of 443 Nag missiles and 13 Namicas for introduction in the next 3 years. Nag will be the first weapon of such kind that will be inducted into the army by November–December 2009. The Army urgently needs the more advanced Nag to improve kill probability as the missile using a high explosive warhead to penetrate the armor in modern tanks.
As part of the winter trial of the final user trials the Nag missile was tested successfully by the Indian Army on 26 December 2008. Before the induction of the missile into service and the summer trials were carried out in June 2009.
During the winter trials the Nag missile zeroed in on the precise location of the target tank at a distance of 3.3 km, as required by the Indian Army. The Indian Army is also extremely satisfied with the performance of the warhead of the missile. The test conducted on 28 December 2008 was successfully completed by the Indian Army. During the test a moving target at 1.8 km was targeted in the top attack mode and a stationary target at a distance of 3.1 km. The two targets were completely destroyed. A total of five missiles were fired during day and night against stationary and moving targets. Summer trials were completed in the summer of 2009.
In July 2009 the Nag anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) was cleared for production. The production of the Nag missile was ordered after successful summer trials were carried out in the Rajasthan desert.
The trials of the missile were conducted using an advanced imaging infrared seeker head, as per Army's requirements. On 20 January 2010, field tests of the Nag’s Thermal Sight system saw the system identify and lock on to a T-55 tank at a range of 5 km. The tank was then engaged and destroyed at a range of over 4 km thus the missile’s fire-and-forget capability has been established using the day version of the IIR passive seeker. In its IIR form the Nag has limited all weather capability. This has given added impetus to develop the mmW seeker. Efforts are on to provide special embedded on-board hunters, that can hunt for targets using ‘day seekers’ and ‘day-&-night seekers’. During trials in June 2010, the short range capability of the missile to hit targets was validated. Nag missile hit a target at a range of half a kilometers in just 3 seconds. In the follow on test a moving target was hit within 3.2 seconds after launch. The final user trials were held during July 2010 and successfully completed. The missile has been cleared for mass production. Bharat dynamics plans to produce 100 missiles per year. The Nag missile will replace the second generation anti-tank missiles in Army armoury.
The Nag will replace the existing Russian Konkours and European missile Milan, both of which are manufactured under license by Bharat Dynamics Limited. An Indian official said a country in the Middle East had shown keen interest in Nag anti-tank guided missiles during Abu Dhabi Defence Expo-2009.
Nag has successfully completed its final validation trials and is expected to join the Indian Army in 2011.Two missiles were launched against a moving target at a time another two missiles were launched against a stationary Vijayanta tank in quick succession and successfully hit the targets. Indian Army is happy with the performance and is expected to buy 443 missiles for 3.35 billion (US$61.3 million).
The project suffered a delay of one year due to army changing its requirements with the carrier of the missile (NaMiCa) at the last moment.
In the user trials conducted in August 2012 in Rajasthan, the missile failed to achieve its objectives. It is now expected to take few more years to reach the induction stage.
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