DRDO successfully test the 4th Gen VSHORADS Air defence system

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully tested the 4th generation Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) at the Pokhran Field Firing Ranges in Rajasthan on  03 and 04 October 2024. 

According to the Union Ministry of Defence, the VSHORADS trial has been successful, and the early user trials and production of the system will start soon.

Developer of the VSHORADS

The VSHORADS has been designed and developed indigenously by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories and private companies.

About the VSHORADS System 

• VSHORADS is a Man-Portable Air Defence System (MANPADS) being developed for the Indian Army, Air Force, and Navy. It is a surface-to-air missile system with a range of up to six kilometres.
• The VSHORADS is an air defence system that can neutralise aerial threats such as low-flying aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles flying at a low altitude.
• The VSHORADS being developed by DRDO has an imaging infrared (IIR) homing system.
• The homing system has the capability to image the heat source (of the aircraft) in addition to detecting and tracking it. It is resilient to the Infrared jamming system of the enemy aircraft and can easily discriminate between Infrared flares released by the enemy‘s aircraft defensive suite and the aircraft itself.
• Due to its weight of around 21 kg, the VSHORADS missile can be launched through a tripod.
• The Indian Army currently has the Russian-made Igla-S MANPADS.

About the MANPADS system

MANPADS are considered to be the country's last missile-based air defence system. They can be fired by an individual or a group of people.

• It is also often called shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. However, the present VSHORADS being developed by DRDO does not have the capability to shoulder-fire anti-aircraft missiles.
• The DRDO is working on MANPADS, which can be fired by a single soldier through a launcher.
• The world-famous Stinger missiles of the United States are a type of MANPADS that can be fired by a single soldier.
• At present around 30 countries are the major producing countries of the MANPADS system, with the United States, Russia, China, France, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom being the leading ones.

Chairman of DRDO: Dr Samir V Kamat