India Orders 2,400 Nag Mk 2 Missiles for Border Readiness amid China and Pakistan Tensions
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India’s Ministry of Defence has approved the Nag Mk 2 missile system for induction, marking a major advance in its anti-armor capabilities. The move strengthens India’s self-reliance and readiness amid ongoing tensions with China and Pakistan.
India’s Ministry of Defence, in a Press Information Bureau note dated October 23, 2025, confirmed the Defence Acquisition Council’s Acceptance of Necessity for the Nag Missile System (Tracked) Mk-II, clearing the path for induction of the upgraded anti-tank complex. On the eve of that meeting, Indian media The Economic Times reported the Army’s plan to order 2,408 Nag Mark 2 missiles paired with 107 NAMICA 2 tracked carriers, a scale of buy that would seed unit-level inventories across strike and pivot formations. The system is entirely indigenous, with Bharat Dynamics Limited as the prime missile producer.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
Indian Army’s NAMICA anti-tank launcher, seen here in its earlier Mk 1 version, forms the basis for the upgraded NAMICA 2 platform soon to enter service alongside Nag Mk 2 missiles, an all-Indian system designed to strengthen armored warfare capability and defense self-reliance (Picture source: Indian MoD).
At the heart of the package is the Nag Mk 2, a third-generation fire-and-forget weapon validated at Pokhran in January 2025 through multiple firings at minimum and maximum range in front of Army observers. The trials also evaluated the new NAMICA carrier, and the MoD declared the weapon system ready for induction. The land-launched Nag family uses an imaging infrared seeker, top-attack engagement logic and a tandem high-explosive anti-tank warhead to defeat explosive reactive armor. The baseline land variant’s envelope is about 500 meters to 4 kilometers, with Mk 2 incorporating user-driven refinements.
The IIR seeker, paired with a digital image processor, locks on to a target before launch and rides its own track without external guidance, reducing exposure time for the crew. The tandem HEAT charge is designed to punch through reactive tiles and base armor, an essential capability against modern Chinese and Pakistani upgrades. Bharat Dynamics’ published data for the land-based Nag confirms the missile’s 42 kilogram all-up weight, 150 millimeter diameter, 220 to 230 meters per second speed and day-night, all-weather operation, giving commanders a predictable logistic and performance baseline as Mk 2 enters service.
NAMICA 2, the tracked launch vehicle, is built on the Indian BMP-2 Sarath chassis and integrates a retractable, armored launcher for multiple canisterized missiles, thermal imagers and a laser rangefinder, along with an auxiliary power unit for silent watch and full NBC protection. The Mk 2 carrier architecture has been reworked from the earlier NAMICA to incorporate an improved fire control and revised launcher layout, enabling faster salvo employment after short halts and better hunter-killer handoff between commander’s and gunner’s sights. Amphibious mobility and low ground pressure keep the system relevant from canal belts in Punjab to desert sectors in Rajasthan.
Nag Mk 2 and NAMICA 2 troop give a mechanized battalion overwatch that outranges legacy gun-launched HEAT, allowing top-attack shots against turret roofs and engine decks from covered positions. Fire-and-forget guidance simplifies simultaneous multi-target engagements, while the tracked carrier can bound with tanks or fight from defilade, launching from hull-down hides and displacing before counter-fire. The Pokhran results, showing clean kills at both ends of the range window, underscore reliability in high-temperature desert conditions where mirage and dust typically punish seekers and gunners alike. In combined-arms task forces, these batteries become the dedicated anti-armor reserve that can also collapse hardened bunkers and field fortifications on short notice.
Despite episodic disengagements after the 2020 Ladakh crisis, both India and China retain heavy forward deployments along the Line of Actual Control, and analysts warn the standoff’s long shadow will shape force posture for years. Pakistan, meanwhile, continues to field Chinese VT-4 tanks alongside Al-Khalid variants, refreshing its armored spear. An indigenous, large-lot order compresses India’s acquisition risk, locks in domestic production lines and deepens skills at BDL and partner yards under Aatmanirbhar Bharat, ensuring sustainment, seeker support and spares are not hostage to a foreign policy. In short, Nag Mk 2 and NAMICA 2 are not just new kit, they are industrial and deterrent instruments aligned to the threat India actually faces.
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India’s Ministry of Defence has approved the Nag Mk 2 missile system for induction, marking a major advance in its anti-armor capabilities. The move strengthens India’s self-reliance and readiness amid ongoing tensions with China and Pakistan.
India’s Ministry of Defence, in a Press Information Bureau note dated October 23, 2025, confirmed the Defence Acquisition Council’s Acceptance of Necessity for the Nag Missile System (Tracked) Mk-II, clearing the path for induction of the upgraded anti-tank complex. On the eve of that meeting, Indian media The Economic Times reported the Army’s plan to order 2,408 Nag Mark 2 missiles paired with 107 NAMICA 2 tracked carriers, a scale of buy that would seed unit-level inventories across strike and pivot formations. The system is entirely indigenous, with Bharat Dynamics Limited as the prime missile producer.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
Indian Army’s NAMICA anti-tank launcher, seen here in its earlier Mk 1 version, forms the basis for the upgraded NAMICA 2 platform soon to enter service alongside Nag Mk 2 missiles, an all-Indian system designed to strengthen armored warfare capability and defense self-reliance (Picture source: Indian MoD).
At the heart of the package is the Nag Mk 2, a third-generation fire-and-forget weapon validated at Pokhran in January 2025 through multiple firings at minimum and maximum range in front of Army observers. The trials also evaluated the new NAMICA carrier, and the MoD declared the weapon system ready for induction. The land-launched Nag family uses an imaging infrared seeker, top-attack engagement logic and a tandem high-explosive anti-tank warhead to defeat explosive reactive armor. The baseline land variant’s envelope is about 500 meters to 4 kilometers, with Mk 2 incorporating user-driven refinements.
The IIR seeker, paired with a digital image processor, locks on to a target before launch and rides its own track without external guidance, reducing exposure time for the crew. The tandem HEAT charge is designed to punch through reactive tiles and base armor, an essential capability against modern Chinese and Pakistani upgrades. Bharat Dynamics’ published data for the land-based Nag confirms the missile’s 42 kilogram all-up weight, 150 millimeter diameter, 220 to 230 meters per second speed and day-night, all-weather operation, giving commanders a predictable logistic and performance baseline as Mk 2 enters service.
NAMICA 2, the tracked launch vehicle, is built on the Indian BMP-2 Sarath chassis and integrates a retractable, armored launcher for multiple canisterized missiles, thermal imagers and a laser rangefinder, along with an auxiliary power unit for silent watch and full NBC protection. The Mk 2 carrier architecture has been reworked from the earlier NAMICA to incorporate an improved fire control and revised launcher layout, enabling faster salvo employment after short halts and better hunter-killer handoff between commander’s and gunner’s sights. Amphibious mobility and low ground pressure keep the system relevant from canal belts in Punjab to desert sectors in Rajasthan.
Nag Mk 2 and NAMICA 2 troop give a mechanized battalion overwatch that outranges legacy gun-launched HEAT, allowing top-attack shots against turret roofs and engine decks from covered positions. Fire-and-forget guidance simplifies simultaneous multi-target engagements, while the tracked carrier can bound with tanks or fight from defilade, launching from hull-down hides and displacing before counter-fire. The Pokhran results, showing clean kills at both ends of the range window, underscore reliability in high-temperature desert conditions where mirage and dust typically punish seekers and gunners alike. In combined-arms task forces, these batteries become the dedicated anti-armor reserve that can also collapse hardened bunkers and field fortifications on short notice.
Despite episodic disengagements after the 2020 Ladakh crisis, both India and China retain heavy forward deployments along the Line of Actual Control, and analysts warn the standoff’s long shadow will shape force posture for years. Pakistan, meanwhile, continues to field Chinese VT-4 tanks alongside Al-Khalid variants, refreshing its armored spear. An indigenous, large-lot order compresses India’s acquisition risk, locks in domestic production lines and deepens skills at BDL and partner yards under Aatmanirbhar Bharat, ensuring sustainment, seeker support and spares are not hostage to a foreign policy. In short, Nag Mk 2 and NAMICA 2 are not just new kit, they are industrial and deterrent instruments aligned to the threat India actually faces.
