India, Israel to Upgrade BARAK 8 Missile System

To upgrade the Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM) and Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MR-SAM), India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Isreal Aerospace Industry (IAI) will collaborate to upgrade Barak-8 missile system, said Minister of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to Mr. Ram Charan Bohra in Lok Sabha on Friday.

LR-SAM is the Ship Launch Version and Project MR-SAM is the Land Launch Version of Barak-08 Missile system. MR-SAM detects incoming enemy aircraft while they are well over 100 km away and destroys them at range upto 70 km.

Basrak Missile 8 (Photo: Creative Commons)

LR-SAM has got long range engagement capability to penetrate in deep water or land to intercept all types of aerial targets like Subsonic and Supersonic Missiles, Fighter Aircraft, Maritime Patrolling Aircraft (MPA), Helicopter and Sea Skimming Missiles.

The Israeli Navy has already commenced equipping its Sa’ar 5 corvettes with the system, the first re-fitted vessel being the INS Lahav and the Sa’ar 4.5 flotilla will be next for the upgrade.

The first 32 missiles will be fitted on the Indian Navy stealth guided-missile destroyer INS Kolkata. Each Barak system costs about $24 million and India has signed a contract with Israel worth a $1.1 billion to supply the upgraded tactical Barak 8 air defence system in 2009.