Balasore: Trials of Helicopter-launched Nag Missile anti-tank guided missile (HELINA), now named ‘Dhruvastra’, were conducted on July 15 and July 16 at Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Balasore.
The trails were conducted without a helicopter in direct and top attack mode.
These trials come in the backdrop of ongoing disengagement process between India-China at the friction points between the two armies in eastern Ladakh.
In July 2019, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had carried out three successful test firings of the Nag missiles
in the Pokhran firing ranges.
Nag was one of the first five strategic missiles planned to be developed under the Integrated Missile Development Programme initiated in the 1980s.
The other missiles developed under the project include the Agni, Prithvi and Akash and all three of them have been successfully developed and inducted into the armed forces.