Technological convergence coupled with engineering innovation have resulted in the indigenous Ku-band active RF seeker developed by the DRDO’s Hyderabad-based Research Centre Imarat (RCI) being adopted for use by three different types of guided-missiles: the Astra-1 beyond visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM), the land-mobile QR-SAM for both the Indian Army and Indian Air Force, and the Akash-1S E-SHORADS for both the Indian Army and Indian Air Force.
Given the huge requirement within a short timeframe for this seeker, parallel final-assembly lines are now being created within the state-owned Bharat Dynamics Ltd, VEM Technologies and the Kalyani Group.
It may be recalled that during the DEFEXPO 2018 expo at Chennai, Kalyani Group had unveilled its version of this seeker, which was then known as ‘Netra’. VEM Technologies, on the other hand, had been showing its version of the same seeker since 2015.
The maiden test-firing of an Akash-1S surface-to-air missile equipped with this Ku-band actiove RF seeker was conducted on December 5, 2017from the Launch Complex-III at Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha. This was followed by two successive test-firings on May 26 and 27, 2019.
Following a final round of user-trials of the QR-SAM and Akash-1 before the year’s end, series-production of up to 4,000 rounds each of the QR-SAM and Akash-1S will commence next year.
The very same RF seeker will also equip the projected Astra-2 BVRAAMs powered by SFDRs.