SAMAR Air Defence System

The Surface to Air Missile for Assured Retaliation, or SAMAR is a short range, quick reaction surface-to-air missile system. The Indian Air Force (IAF) Maintenance Command's 7 Base Repair Depot Tughlakabad (BRD) and 11 Base Repair Depot Ojhar, in collaboration with Simran Flowtech Industries and Yamazuki Denki, two Indian private sector companies, created the SAMAR system.

The SAMAR employs Vympel R-73 and Vympel R-27 air-to-air missiles, which are of Russian origin.

Using reconditioned infrared homing Vympel R-73E, semi-active radar homing Vympel R-27 R1/ER-1, and infrared homing Vympel R-27 ET-1 variant of air-to-air missiles (AAMs) that have been further reprogrammed to be utilized as a short range, surface to air defense platform, Indian Air Force Base Repair Depot created the SAMAR system.

Following extensive test firing, the SAMAR system made its debut at Aero India 2023. The SAMAR-1 system has 12-kilometer range which allows it to take on low-flying aerial targets like fighter planes, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The Indian Air Force has assigned the project to Maintenance Command for a road mobile short-range air defence system using thousands of Vympel R-73 and Vympel R-27 missiles that have reached the end of their flight shelf life and are no longer suitable for use from fighter jets.

Trials
On Aero India 2023, IAF confirmed that SAMAR-1 system completed 17 rounds of test firing before entering initial production.

On 17 December 2023, IAF successfully test fired SAMAR in Exercise AstraShakti from Air Force Station Suryalanka. It achieved the firing objectives in different engagement scenarios. SAMAR is a twin-turret rail launch platform which can launch two missiles in single or salvo mode. The missile operates in Mach 2 to 2.5 range.

SAMAR air defence missile system was fired at the Exercise Vayushakti on 17 February 2024.

Manufacturing
During Aero India 2023, Indian Air Force confirmed that SAMAR system development is complete and the weapon platform has entered the initial phase of manufacturing. Five production batches of SAMAR-1 are ready to be delivered to IAF's Air-Defence Missile Unit.

Concerns
Retired Indian Air Force pilot Squadron Leader Vijainder Thakur, a SEPECAT Jaguar pilot, questioned the efficacy of the arrangement, citing chiefly the lack of Vympel R-27 production in India. In addition, he also questioned its operational viability given its compromised combat capability and thought it was a waste of IAF funds. With experience of flying Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s, Group Captain TP Srivastava emphasized the value of ground radar in determining the capability of surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems.

Having prior experience in English Electric Canberra bombers and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25, Group Captain Johnson Chacko concluded that converting air-to-air missiles into surface-to-air missiles was not unfeasible, pointing to the jointly developed Norwegian/US NASAMS system as long as viable guidance system and acquisition issues were resolved.

Eventually, the SAMAR system will be used to eliminate a bigger stockpile of older, Soviet era air-to-air missiles in the Indian Air Force inventory in addition to taking down low-altitude targets.