India closes tender for loitering munitions

The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 14 February closed the expression of interest (EOI) for the procurement of loitering munitions for the Indian Army.

The MoD issued the EOI for medium-range precision kill systems (MRPKS) in December 2021. The MRPKS will be operated by the Indian Army's artillery units to engage various strategic targets in plains, deserts, semi-deserts, mountainous terrain, and high-altitude areas.

The EOI was issued to seek the participation of Indian vendors in the Make II category for development and procurement of the MRPKS under the Buy Indian Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) programme of the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020. The programme is divided into the prototype development and the procurement phase. The selected vendors will have to deliver one launcher, two forward observer stations, and six loitering munitions at the development stage. Under the procurement phase, they will provide ten launchers, 30 forward observation stations, and 120 loitering munitions. The vendors will also be awarded a five-year comprehensive maintenance contract. An order for more units will follow later on. In addition, the MRPKS should contain at least 50% indigenous content.

According to the EOI, the MRPKS should have a range of 20 km, a circular error probable (CEP) of five, and a launch altitude of at least 4,000 m. The weapon system needs to carry high-explosive pre-fragmented (HEPF) and anti-armour warheads that weigh a maximum of 8 kg.

The MRPKS need to operate in minimum temperatures between -15 °C to -5 °C and maximum temperatures between 40 °C to 45 °C. The munition also needs to be operational in up to 95% humidity and face wind speeds of 10 m/s.