Amid a protracted stand-off along the LAC, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has accomplished a secret mission by testing several rounds of airto-air missiles that have recently been acquired from France and Russia from a frontline fighter aircraft off Odisha coast.

Ahead of the planned integration with multi-role combat aircraft Rafale, the IAF test fired two rounds of Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to air missile MICA fighter aircraft earlier this week. The two fighter aircrafts Sukhoi-30MKI took off from Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal fired the missile, successfully neutralising the aerial target drone mimicking enemy aircraft at low altitude, said Grp Captain (rtd) RK Das.

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“All mission parameters have been met as the target was destroyed validating the missile’s launch envelope. The missile will equip both Sukhoi and Rafale fighter jets,” he said.

He said that anti-air multitarget MICA missile fired from Sukhoi-30 MKI for the first time successfully destroyed expendable aerial targets (EATs), demonstrating its stealth capabilities.

“The French MBDA MICA, dual head (IR & EM), is part of the Mirage-2000 upgrade project and of the Rafale weapon package. 400 missiles are being bought. Rafale can carry up to six MICA missiles. MICA is an all weather missile system available in both short and medium ranges,” said Grp Captain (rtd) RK Das.