Indian army shows off brand new surface-to-air missile during test launch VIDEO

A trial launch of India’s newest anti-aircraft projectile was filmed on the country’s east coast, just days after the military fired a slew of other missiles from the same location.

Dubbed the Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM), the weapon was put to test on Monday at the military’s Integrated Test Range in the eastern state of Odisha. Footage distributed by the ANI news agency shows the missile flying out of a ground-based launcher before vanishing into the air.

The QRSAM is set to phase out the ageing analogues which India had bought from the Soviet Union back in the 1970s and 1980s. The military will take delivery of the new weapon by 2021, seizing on its ability to hit aerial targets up to 30km away.

Last Thursday, India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) tested a long-range multiple launch rocket system called Pinaka, firing two salvos from the launch pad.

The firing range also witnessed the trial of a more powerful weapon last week, when DRDO tested a land-based version of the supersonic Russian-Indian cruise missile BrahMos. Shortly thereafter, an airborne version – the BrahMos-A – was fired from a Sukhoi-30MKI off the coast of Odisha, scoring a direct hit on a mock target.

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