New Delhi: The Indian Navy has gone in for an unspecified number of Israeli, cutting-edge fire control systems that tackle drone threats from close range besides improving a soldier’s accuracy and speed of hitting targets.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that while this is an initial order, the Army along with the Border Security Force are already in talks with Israeli firm Smart Shooter.
A statement released by the firm Tuesday said it had been awarded a contract for the supply of its SMASH Fire Control Systems to the Indian Navy by the defence ministry.
The contract calls for the supply of Smart Shooter’s SMASH 2000 Plus fire control systems, which will be installed mainly on AK-47 and AK 203 rifles. SMASH is a kind of electro-optic sight system.
“SMASH 2000 Plus provides an inimitable hard-kill solution against the growing threats of drones, and delivers proven ability to hit any ground or airborne targets and eliminate the threat quickly and effectively,” Michal Mor, the company’s CEO said in the statement.
She added, “We will be happy to keep offering the Indian Military diverse cutting-edge solutions for protection against ground and aerial threats at land, air, and sea.”
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Systems upgrade to tackle drone threat
In his annual press conference last week, Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh had said that the force was procuring SMASH-2000s as anti-drone equipment to protect against attacking drones.
Indian Navy is procuring Smash-2000 rifles as anti-drone equipment to protect against attacking drones: Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh pic.twitter.com/WAON6sDkSC
— ANI (@ANI) December 3, 2020
Smart Shooter claims the SMASH 2000 Plus features built-in targeting algorithms that can track and hit very small drones skimming along at high speed, at ranges of up to 120 metres, with the first shot.
It said that SMASH 2000 Plus fully complies with the Indian needs and shall significantly improve a soldier’s accuracy and speed of hitting targets and shooting down threats, hence dramatically maximising operational effectiveness.
The SMASH 2000 Plus is based on the SMASH 2000 system and includes the whole feature set with an additional advanced Counter-UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) Mode, which provides accurate Hard Kill capability to counter the emerging drone threat.
The electro-optic (EO) sight system, which was brought into the market last year, provides a day/night rapid target acquisition capability to target small, fast-moving aerial threats such as incendiary balloons and kites.
This was later upgraded to target small, moving drones from closer ranges of rifle.
Also read: How India plans to manage its growing drone air traffic in the years to come