Source : Indian Defence Analysis
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to offer ALS-50 and Nagastra-1 Loitering Munitions to Nigeria during upcoming visit
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh will visit Nigeria between May 28-30, 2023, to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the President-elect of the West African nation Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This will be the first-ever visit of an Indian Defence Minister to Nigeria. The Raksha Mantri’s visit will be an important landmark in building the strong bonds of friendship between the two countries. Considering the growing defence cooperation between India & Nigeria. The senior officers of Ministry of Defence and top leadership of important Defence PSUs will accompany Shri Rajnath Singh. They will hold meetings with the representatives from the Nigerian industry and the Armed Forces to identify the equipment and platforms, through which the Indian defence industry can support the country’s requirements.
In last few years Nigeria, has moved closed towards the geopolitical rivals of India such as Turkey, Pakistan, and China. In 2022, Nigeria signed a deal for six Turkish TAI T-129 attack helicopters setting aside Indian LCH. Nigeria also operates the JF17 & other Chinese assets.
During the visit India will be looking to reset the ties and offer its indigenously designed and developed weapons and the most prominent ones which are making headlines are Tata ALS-50 and Nagastra-1 loitering munitions by SOLAR group. These two loitering munitions is also being inducted into Indian Armed forces. Indian Air Force is in process of induction 100 ALS-50 LM and Indian Army is inducting 450 Nagastra-1 LMs.
Nagastra-1 Loitering Munition
The Nagastra 1 has more than 80% indigenous content and can carry 1.5kg warhead to a range of 15km. It has endurance of 60 minutes with accuracy of less than 2m. It can be launched with hand and ground-based launcher. The target details can be feed manually, or it can also be automatically acquired. It can destroy a target area of 10mX10m of radius. It has overall weight of 20kg.
TATA ALS 50 loitering munitions
ALS 50 is an indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured loitering munition system for advanced warfare useful for the armed forces of India in both surveillance and combat scenarios. ALS can be equipped with different types of warheads as per the operational requirements. It can feed live video via chin mounted EO/IR sensor. EO/IR Camera with its precise targeting algorithm & live feed allows the user to guide the munition as required.
The LM has a length of 2.4m, wingspan of 3.8m and a maximum take-off weight of 50 kg. It can take off like a quadcopter and transition into fixed wing mode during flight for long distance travel. It is capable of launching missions upto a distance of 50 km and can perform real time targeting, either by the operator or autonomously.
The LM has endurance of more than an hour. The LM can be launched from altitude of 400m from mean sea level. The UAV can carry a range of anti-personnel and anti-armour warheads weighing up to 6 kg including explosively formed penetrator (EFP) warhead. The accuracy of the system has been tested to be less than 2 meters, adequate to carry out precise strikes.
In case the mission has to be aborted, it can be easily recovered given its VTOL capability. It uses battery powered electric motors which makes it a silent killer. It can also operate in GPS denied environment. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to offer ALS-50 and Nagastra-1 Loitering Munitions to Nigeria during upcoming visit Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to offer ALS-50 and Nagastra-1 Loitering Munitions to Nigeria during upcoming visit Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to offer ALS-50 and Nagastra-1 Loitering Munitions to Nigeria during upcoming visit Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to offer ALS-50 and Nagastra-1 Loitering Munitions to Nigeria during upcoming visit Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to offer ALS-50 and Nagastra-1 Loitering Munitions to Nigeria during upcoming visit Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to offer ALS-50 and Nagastra-1 Loitering Munitions to Nigeria during upcoming visit IgMp
