Solar Industries India to supply Nagastra-1 loitering munitions to Indian army.

According to PSU Watch, Solar Industries India Ltd announced that Economic Explosives Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solar Industries India, has bagged a Rs 212-crore contract from the Ministry of Defence. "Economic Explosives Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company has signed a contract for the supply of ‘Nagastra-1’ loitering munitions with the Ministry of Defence".
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

Solar Industries' Nagastra-1 loitering munition (Picture source: ia Vayu Aerospace)

According to The Economic Times, Solar Industries Nagpur on Friday, April 21, said it has bagged an order to supply unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) 'Nagastra' to the Indian Army, beating competitors from Israel and Poland. A Solar Industries official said with a government's initiative to bring Atmanirbharta into ammunition and defence systems, the first indigenous loiter munition, Nagastra-1, has been designed and developed by Economics Explosives Ltd (EEL), a 100 percent subsidiary of Solar Industries Nagpur, in association with Z-Motion, Bangalore.

The company said that Nagastra -1 having an indigenous content of more than 75 percent has many world-class features. A model of 'Nagastra -1' loitering munition was recently displayed in the Army Commanders conference held in New Delhi. Homegrown Solar Group is into manufacturing industrial explosives.

In Kamikaze mode, it can neutralise any hostile threat with GPS-enabled precision strike with an accuracy of 2 meters. The fixed wing electric UAV has an endurance of 60 minutes with a man-in-loop range of 15 km and an autonomous mode range of 30 km. In addition to day-night surveillance cameras the loiter munition is equipped with fragmenting warhead to defeat soft-skin targets. In case a target is not detected or if the mission is aborted, the loiter munition can be called back and made a soft landing with a parachute recovery mechanism enabling it to be reused multiple times.

Defense News April 2023