Indian Army Signs Procurement Contract For Over 450 Nagastra-1 Loitering Munitions
The Indian Army has signed an emergency contract with Economic Explosives Limited (EEL) to procure about 450 Nagastra-1 loitering munitions. The firm is a part of India’s Solar Group, a major private sector manufacturer of explosives, Pinaka rockets, boosters, grenades and other munitions.
The Nagastra-1 is derived from the Trinetra loitering munition developed by Z Motion Autonomous Systems, a startup in which Solar Group has a significant stake. The munition has undergone trials across various terrain and other operating conditions. The contract is to be executed within one year.
Nagastra-1 weighs 8kg and can be equipped with a 1 or 1.5kg warhead. The fixed wing, electrically powered munition has an endurance of 60 minutes and can achieve a range of 15km with man in the loop control. It can be recovered using an inbuilt parachute. In autonomous mode, Nagastra-1 can reach ranges of about 40km.
EEL weathered competition from Poland and Israel to bag the contract. Earlier, the Army had procured over 100 Warmate loitering munitions from Polish firm WB Electronics and 120 Skystriker loitering munitions from Israel’s Elbit Systems. The Skystriker is made in India by a joint venture with Adani Defence & Aerospace. Another Israeli firm UVision markets the HERO series of loitering munitions through a joint venture with Aditya Precitech.
EEL has showcased two other loitering munitions: Rudrastra and Nagastra-2. Rudrastra is a hexacopter VTOL drone which can carry multiple gravity drop fragmenting warheads for use against soft skinned targets. Nagastra-2 weighs 12 kg and has an endurance of 90 minutes. It can achieve a man-in-loop range of 25 km and autonomous range of about 90 km. The parachute recoverable munition has a 4 kg warhead.
The procurement is the first ever for an indigenous loitering munition of this class. Previously Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) had bagged a contract to supply ALS-50 loitering munitions to the Indian Air Force. This VTOL munition weighs under 50kg and has a range of over 50km. Various Indian firms including EEL and TASL are looking to bag orders emerging from multiple requirements for loitering munitions, which are in various stages of progress.