Know about low weight, fire & forget Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile

New Delhi, Sep 13: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Wednesday successfully flight tested indigenously developed Man Portable Anti-tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) in Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. The defence ministry said it was the third series of successful testing of MPATGM which will be used by the Army.

When was missile launched?

The missile was launched from a man-portable tripod launcher and the target was mimicking a functional tank. The missile hit the target in top attack mode and destroyed it with precision. All the mission objectives were met.

This is the third series of successful testing of MPATGM. The missile is incorporated with state-of-the-art Infrared Imaging Seeker along with advanced avionics.

About Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile (MPATGM):

The MPATGM is a low weight, fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile (ATGM). It is fitted with a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead. The missile has a length of about 1,300 mm and a diameter of about 120 mm. It has a weight of 14.5 kg, with its command launch unit (CLU) weighing 14.25 kg. It has a range of about 2.5 km. The MPATGM is equipped with an advanced Imaging Infrared Radar (IIR) seeker with integrated avionics. The missile has top attack capability.

Features:

Mass- 14.5 kg
Length- 1,300 mm (4 ft 3 in)
Warhead- High-explosive anti-tank warhead
Operational range- 2.5 km.

Testing Highlights:

On September 15, 2018, DRDO carried out the first trial of the MPATGM successfully. This trial was followed by another successful trial of the MPATGM on September 16, 2018.

On March 13, 2019, DRDO successfully tested the MPATGM in the Rajasthan desert. This was followed by another successful test the next day on March 14, 2019.

The missile was tested again on 11 September 2019. A man-portable tripod launcher was used in the test. The target of the test was a dummy tank, which was hit in top attack mode.

Production facility:

The MPATGM will be manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited at a facility located in Bhanoor. This facility was inaugurated on September 29, 2018.