Army gets tough anti-tank missile armour

PUNE, Feb 11: Tucked away in the serene surroundings of Pashan Lake, the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) is a beehive of activity. Notching up yet another feather in its cap, this prestigious Pune-based laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has for the first time developed a highly powerful material which has the capacity to resist the toughest anti-tank missile.

Realising the need to offer all possible protection to tanks of the Indian army, the organisation, renowned for its work in the area of high energy materials has developed an Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA), a first in the history of Indian defence research for protecting the Army’s entire fleet of tanks. Entrusted with the onerous task of indigenous development in the vital areas of high energy materials, HEMRL is the only lab in the country dealing with an entire spectrum of high energy materials. HEMRL director Haridwar Singh said the “insensitive” material would be mounted on to tanks in asingle explosive panel, reducing the penetration of the most modern anti-tank missiles to the extent of 80 per cent. Since the trials have proved to be successful, the concept of the ERA has been accepted by the Army, he said.