India, US discussing co-production of Javelin anti-tank missiles

• India and the US held discussions on the co-production of American javelin missiles in India to meet the requirements of the Indian military.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• The discussions on the joint production of the missiles took place recently during a high-level visit from the US to India.
• India and the US have been discussing expanding their cooperation, including joint production of military equipment.
• Sources said the requirement of the Army for the latest anti-tank guided missiles is quite significant and the force had to acquire a limited number of Israeli Spike ATGMs under emergency procurement to meet its requirements.
• The requirement for third-generation ATGMs has been there for a long time and attempts to acquire the weapon systems through a global route have not been successful.
• The work of acquiring the ATGMs through the Indigenous route is ongoing, as the Defence Research and Development Organisation is also going to carry out trials of its Man-Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (MP-ATGM) soon to meet the requirements of the Army, the defence officials said.
• The Indian MPATGM Weapon System has been field evaluated in different flight configurations several times with the objective of proving the technology’s superiority.

Prelims Takeaway

• MP-ATGM
• DRDO