Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. Where he was standing on the ship, launchers of Barak-8 Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) were installed. This missile is a strong weapon of India’s air defense. It is rare to have its own air defense system on an aircraft carrier like Vikrant. Let us know the complete story of this missile, its power and its importance for Vikrant.
PM Modi’s visit and location of missile
PM Modi boarded Vikrant and took stock of the capabilities of the ship. They were standing on the deck of the ship, where the launchers of the Vertical Launch System (VLS) are. These launchers are made for Barak-8 missiles. There are a total of 32 VLS cells on Vikrant, which are used to protect against air attacks. This system protects the ship from enemy planes, missiles and drones. This visit of PM was an opportunity to show Vikrant’s strength to the world.
What is Barak-8 missile?
Barak-8 is an advanced surface-to-air missile, which has been jointly developed by Israel and India. Barak means ‘flash of lightning’. This missile targets the enemy flying in the air. On Vikrant it is launched from VLS, which throws the missile straight upwards.
This missile is also used for naval ships, coast guard and army. India built it under the ‘Missile for Ship’ project. The specialty of Barak-8 is that it works with active radar homing system – meaning, it finds and kills the enemy itself.
Strengths of Barak-8: Range, Speed and Capacity
You will be surprised to know the power of Barak-8. Here are some key points…
- Range: From 70 to 100 km. That is, an enemy aircraft or missile can be destroyed from a distance of 100 km.
- Speed: 2500 km/hr. It is so fast that the enemy does not get a chance to escape.
- Height: Can fly up to 20 km. This also protects against high-level attacks.
- Weight and Size: Weight about 275 kg, 4.5 meters long. It is mild but fatal.
- Head: 60 kg high-explosive warhead, which explodes directly on the target.
- Guidance: With GPS, insertional navigation and active radar. It hits accurately even when the weather is bad.
This missile can hit multiple targets simultaneously. Due to 32 cells on Vikrant, 32 missiles can be deployed. This gives the strength of an additional destroyer or frigate. Air so strong on most of the world’s aircraft carriers defense Doesn’t happen.
INS Vikrant: symbol of indigenous strength
INS Vikrant is an aircraft carrier, which was completely built in India. This is a giant ship of 40,000 tons, which can run at a speed of 30 knots (55 km/hour). Vikrant can carry 26 fighter jets (MiG-29K) and 8 helicopters. But its real strength is missiles like Barak-8.
Vikrant’s VLS system strengthens India’s defense in the Indian Ocean. Along with defending against enemy attacks, it can also attack. Experts say that having VLS on Vikrant is rare. Most carriers depend on other ships. But Vikrant himself is like a ‘mini destroyer’.
This doubles the strength of the battle group (group of ships). Barak-8 made India independent from Israel, because now we can make it ourselves.
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