SAAB India Technologies Private Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of SAAB AB, Sweden, demonstrated its BAMSE-Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) along with many of its other technologies.
Varun Vijay Singh, Marketing Director Air Defence and ATM, SAAB India Technologies Pvt. Ltd., said: “We have a very successful partnership with Ashok Leyland, and that is in line with SAAB’s thinking of ‘Make in India’. We are using their 8×8 Super Stallion trucks, and for the last 3 years imported it even in Sweden and integrated our product MCC (Missile Command Control) under our SRSAM (Short Range Surface to Air Missile) programme. The entire SRSAM system is called the BAMSE system. We have had successful trials of this in the North of Sweden in a small town called Vidsel. It was tested by the Indian Army under the harshest of conditions. We have also successfully tested our Giraffe radar system.”
The BAMSE is one of the few systems in the world developed and optimised as a dedicated GBAD missile system designed for flexible usage both for stand-alone operation and in networks with other sensors and weapon systems. “The philosophy is to optimise system effect by having a number of fully co-ordinated firing units that together create a ground coverage for the system of more than 2,100 km2 and an effective altitude coverage of 15,000 m. The BAMSE system has excellent built-in ECCM capabilities both in the GIRAFFE AMB surveillance radar and the unique monopulse Fire Control Radar (FCR) Automatic Command to Line Of Sight (ACLOS) missile guidance function,” revealed Singh.
To successfully meet threat scenarios, the BAMSE system has been provided with all vital capabilities for facing the present threat and that of the foreseeable future with the following unique capabilities:
- Optimised situational awareness
- A large number of SHORADS can be connected
- Freedom of deployment due to elevated platforms
- Short deployment time; a complete battery is combat-ready in less than 10 min
- Short reloading time; all six missiles in less than 5 min
- Flexible system, several MCCs controlled by one GIRAFFE AMB
- Embedded simulator in every unit
- Maintenance-free missiles
- Extensive BITE for every unit and a simplified maintenance concept
- Long servicable life and Low Life Cycle Cost (LCC)
- Optional C-RAM warning capability
The BAMSE system is developed to have high redundancy where every single missile launcher has the capability to combat targets without any link to an external information source or higher command. The system has unique high altitude coverage and is effective with maintained high missile manoeuvrability at 15,000 m altitude. Every single missile launcher has C2 capabilities.
The BAMSE system has high survivability with ballistic protection on every missile launcher and outstanding ECCM capabilities. The system has the power to have integrated IFF on every missile launcher in order to further strengthen the possibility to act as autonomous units, if necessary. The system has been specially developed to combat small and fast targets as well as low flying cruise missiles and UAVs.
SAAB is also co-developing the Truck Stimulator, displayed at the Ashok Leyland booth, to help the Indian Army in training drivers before they actually drive the Stallions.
SAAB, a global defence and security company, founded in Sweden in 1937, brings to India a wide portfolio of cutting-edge technologies and systems, across the air, land, naval and civil domains.
“We have been a trusted supplier to the Indian Armed Forces since the 1970s when India acquired the Carl Gustaf Anti-Tank defence system. In 2014, SAAB invested one-fourth of sales in research and development. It could build products and solutions here in India, by Indians, for India, and even for export,” averred Singh.
Today, SAAB works with Indian companies and partners in R&D, aerospace technologies, and defence systems across all domains, to develop cutting-edge products and solutions that will serve India and the rest of the world for generations to come. “We are doing this in partnership with the Indian ambition to Make In India – the ambition to develop an indigenous defence industry of global dimensions,” Singh signed off.