During the weekend, India conducted the test of its Integrated Air Defence Weapon System (IADWS), a multi-layered air defence shield, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh confirmed through a post on social media.
The IADWS is a multi-layered air defence system comprising "the Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missiles (QRSAM), the advanced Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missiles, and a high-power laser-based Directed Energy Weapon (DEW)".
"This unique flight test has established the multi-layered air-defence capability of our country and is going to strengthen area defence for important facilities against enemy aerial threats," Singh added.
Notably, the IADWS can neutralise threats such as loitering munitions, high-speed fighter jets, swarm drones, and cruise missiles.
Interestingly, the QRSAM can engage targets such as warplanes, helicopters, missiles, and drones up to a range of 30 kilometers. What's more, it can strike targets up to an elevation of 10 kilometers and take out multiple enemy threats at the same time.
"Importantly, the QRSAM will be a radar-controlled autonomous system that the adversary's electronic warfare platforms will not be able to breach, i.e., jam its transmitter and receiver," retired Group Captain Uttam Kumar Devnath told Sputnik India.
The second layer of the IADWS is India's indigenous VSHORADS, which boast an impressive operational range of 6 to 8 kilometers, effectively countering low-flying aircraft and emerging aerial threats like drones, he underlined.
These cutting-edge, man-portable systems are engineered for swift deployment, delivering a formidable last line of defense for the country's ground forces, naval assets, and critical infrastructure like military bases and installations, the former Indian Air Force (IAF) official stated.
"The third layer, featuring a laser-directed energy weapon system, can successfully counter drones, UAVs, and sensors at ranges of up to 5 kilometers. The USP of DEW will be its 5kW laser beams that will destroy drones and surveillance sensors in mid-air, literally making them ineffective in wartime scenarios," Devnath explained.
For the unversed, the IADWS will eventually be part of the 'Sudarshan Chakra', India's modern and robust aerial shield, which will also have the capability to shoot down hypersonic missiles in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), he stressed.
Among the Sudarshan Chakra's components will be the S-400, the Akash missile system, and the Barak missile platform, besides the IADWS and other aerial assets being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the military commentator noted.
"In the next couple of years, India's multi-layered air defence shield will become impenetrable, having all kinds of weapons that will be able to destroy enemy threats within a radius of 500 kilometers, including stealth aircraft," Devnath concluded.