New Delhi: Defence Ministry on Tuesday said that DRDO has successfully completed the final deliverable configuration development trials of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Launched Precision Guided Missile (ULPGM)-V3 in Air-to-Ground and Air-to-Air modes at DRDO test range near Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh complimented DRDO, PSUs, Defence-cum-Production partners and industry for the successful development trials of ULPGM-V3 in Air-to-Ground mode for anti-tank role and Air-to-Air modes for drone, helicopter and other airborne targets. 

He termed it a strategic milestone achieved towards ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence.

The trials were carried out using an integrated Ground Control System (GCS) to command and control the ULPGM weapon system. The GCS features state-of-the-art technologies to automate readiness and launch operations. 

According to a ministry statement, DRDO partnered with two production agencies - Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad and Adani Defence Systems & Technologies Limited, Hyderabad - for the development and production of the missiles. 

The system has been integrated on UAVs developed by Newspace Research and Technologies, Bengaluru for current trials.

“The ULPGM missile has been developed by Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad as the nodal lab along with other DRDO laboratories namely Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) Hyderabad, Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Pune,” the statement further explained.

The missile has been produced entirely through the Indian defence ecosystem involving a large number of MSMEs and other industries. The trials confirmed fully mature domestic supply chain, equipped for immediate serial mass production. 

Dr Samir V. Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO, congratulated all the teams associated with the trials for the commendable achievement.