India announces successful Indo-Israeli Barak 8 missile system test

I – 24 NEWS – India on Tuesday successfully test fired the Barak 8 missile system that was jointly developed with Israel. The test was launched at 10:13 am local time (445 GMT) from a mobile launcher on a base near the country’s eastern Odisha coast. It successfully intercepted a moving airborne target over the bay of Bengal, according to India’s English language Business Standard daily.

Additional tests are reportedly to occur later Tuesday and again on Wednesday.

The surface-to-air missile system uses 4.5 meter tall missiles which can carry a 60 kg warhead to range of up to 70 kilometers.

“Barak-8 missile”

The Barak 8, an upgraded version of the Barak system both countries already use, is designed to defend naval vessels against incoming missiles, planes and drones.

Designed to defend against a variety of short-to-long-range airborne threats – including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, drones and projectiles – Barak-8 incorporates a state-of-the-art phased array multi-mission radar, two-way data link, and a flexible command and control system, enabling users to simultaneously engage multiple targets day and night and in all weather conditions, according to IAI.

The Barak-8 is part of next-generation defenses currently being installed on Israeli Navy ships to protect them from threats that include Russian-made Yakhont surface-to-sea missiles reportedly in the possession of Lebanese Shi’ite militia Hezbollah. To date, the system has racked up “significant sales” to customers around the world, IAI said.