Russia has signed a contract to supply Igla-S hand-held anti-aircraft missiles to India and allow production of the Igla there under licence, the Russian state news agency TASS quoted a top arms export official as saying on Tuesday.
The Igla-S is a man-portable air defence system (MANPADS) that can be fired by an individual or crew to bring down an enemy aircraft. Russia and India have entered into an agreement for the supply of Igla-S hand-held anti-aircraft missiles, and Russia has granted a licence for the Igla’s production, according to a report, citing Russian news agency TASS.
“We have already signed the corresponding document and now, together with an Indian private company, we are organising the production of Igla-S MANPADS in India,” Reuters quoted Alexander Mikheyev, head of the state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, as saying to TASS.
India is the world’s largest arms importer and Russia remains its largest supplier despite the damage to the reputation of its army and weaponry from the war in Ukraine, where Russia has suffered numerous setbacks at the hands of a smaller but highly motivated and Western-equipped military. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia accounted for 45% of India’s arms imports between 2018 and 2022, with France providing 29% and the United States 11%.
Igla
Launching mechanism;
►”Dzhigit” support launcher;
►”Strelets” set of equipment and launch modules (allow launching missiles from various mobile carriers);
►”Komar” turret installation;
►”Gibka-S” combat vehicle for the MANPADS squad.
Main Characteristics
Range: 500 to 6000 m
Altitude: 10 to 3500 m
Target speed: head-on- up to 400 m/s
Pursuit- up to 400 m/s
Missile features: tracing, passive, infrared bi-spectral seeker
About Igla-S:
- It is a man-portable air defence system (MANPADS) developed by Russia.
- It is known in the West as SA-24 Grinch.
- It entered service with the Russian Army in 2004.
- It can be fired by an individual or crew to bring down an enemy aircraft.
- It has the capability of bringing down low-flying aircraft. It can also identify and neutralize air targets, such as cruise missiles and drones.
- Features:
- The Igla-S system comprises of combat equipment, including the 9M342 missile and the 9P522 launching mechanism, along with maintenance equipment, including the 9V866-2 mobile test station and the 9F719-2 test set.
- It has an effective range upto 6 km.
- The limiting altitude of effective target destruction for the “Igla-S” complex is 3.5 km.
- It has a heavier, more powerful warhead to maximize damage capabilities, as well as contact and timed fuzes for increased attack range.
- The warhead is a high-explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) and weighs 2.5 kg.
- Guidance is homing via infrared.
