The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully carried out joint user trials of indigenously developed Helina and Dhruvastra Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) from the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) in the desert.
Helina is the Army variant and Dhruvastra is the Air Force variant of the ALH.
“The Helina and Dhruvastra are third generation, Lock-on-Before-Launch (LOBL) fire and forget ATGMs that can engage targets both in direct hit mode as well as top attack mode. The system has all-weather day-and-night capability and can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as with explosive reactive armour,” the DRDO said in a statement on Friday. “It is one of the most-advanced anti-tank weapons in the world. Now, the missile systems are ready for induction,” it stated.
On the trials conducted, DRDO said that five missions were carried out for evaluating the missile capabilities in minimum and maximum range and the missiles were fired in hover and maximum forward flight against realistic static and moving targets.
“Some missions were carried out with warheads against derelict tanks. A mission was carried out against a moving target from a forward flying helicopter,” the statement added.
