This will increase the Indian Army's air defence capability at night and during inclement weather

The Indian Army has initiated the indigenous development of an Augmented Reality Head Mounted Display (ARHMD) System which can be a game changer when it comes to land-based air defence weapons.

The ARHMD system can provide operators of these weapons with radar and thermal imaging inputs to engage an enemy target more accurately.

A Project Sanction Order (PSO) to develop a prototype of the ARHMD system has been issued to six vendors, the Ministry of Defence said in Wednesday. The Indian Army plans to purchase 556 such systems from one of these vendors after the successful development of a prototype.

Conceived as a capability enhancement to Land Based Air Defence Weapon Systems such as IGLA shoulder-fired Infra Red Homing Air Defence Missile System and ZU 23mm 2B AD Gun System, these will provide the operator with radar and Thermal Imaging (TI) sight outputs as overlays.

The proposed system aims to increase the engagement capability at night and during inclement weather.

The day-time engagements are also intended to be enhanced through increased reaction times, data computation for decision support and integration of output of TI sight, the ministry said in a statement.

According to the defence ministry, the procurement will be as per provisions of Buy (Indian-IDDM) category of Defence Acquisition Policy (DAC) 2020.

This particular category pertains to weapons, equipment, and systems designed developed, and manufactured in India.

"It will be in sync with “Atmanirbhar Bharat” policy of the Government and will lead to “Self Reliance” by giving boost to the Indian Defence Industry," the defence ministry statement said.