STARStreak Air Defence System: India-France sign Agreements

Thales, a French Multinational Company has signed an agreement with the Bharat Dynamics Limited, a Government of India enterprise to jointly work on STARStreak Air Defence System

STARStreak Air Defence System

• The STARStreak is a short-range surface-to-air missile. It was earlier called as the Shorts Missile System. It travels at Mach 3 speed, that is, the speed of the missile is three times the speed of sound.
• STARStreak has been in service with the British Army since 1997.
• The minimum range of the system is 0.3 km and the maximum range is 7 km. The range of STARStreak System II variant is more than 7 km.
• The other variants of the STARStreak system are air to air system that can be fired from helicopters. The Light Weight Multiple Launcher variant of the STARStreak system can be used mounting on a stationary vehicle.
• The surface to air missile installed in the STARStreak Air Defence System is currently the fastest short-range surface to air missile in the world. After being fired from the system, the missile picks up speed greater than Mach 4 level.
• The missile is made of three LASER guided Darts. Usually, the missile systems have only one LASER guided dart that increases the probability of missing the target. On the other hand, STARStreak systems have three darts that increases the accuracy of reaching the target position.

Advantages of STARStreak Air Defence System

• The STARStreak Air Defence System cannot be jammed by infrared countermeasures.
• The STARStreak Air Defence System has been optimised to engage attack helicopters.
• The speed of the system makes it difficult for the pilots to evade.
• The STARStreak Air Defence System cannot be suppressed with anti-radar missiles.
• It has high speed that reduces the amount of time for a counter measure such as illuminating the guidance laser source or beam manoeuvring.

Disadvantages of STARStreak Air Defence System

• The STARStreak Air Defence System does not have proximity fuse. This makes it compulsory for its missiles to collide with the target in order to harm it.
• The high speed of the system makes it difficult to intercept a fast-moving aircraft. However, it can intercept the fast-moving targets that are head on with the missile.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2021