NEW DELHI: India’s indigenous maritime strike programme achieved a major milestone on Wednesday as the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy successfully carried out the maiden salvo launch of the Naval Anti-Ship Missile Short Range (NASM-SR).
Two missiles were fired in quick succession from a Sea King helicopter off the Odisha coast over the Bay of Bengal from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.
The trial marked the first salvo launch of an advanced indigenous air-launched anti-ship missile system and validated a capability considered critical for real-world naval strike operations.
In a statement, the government said all test objectives were fully met, with performance data captured through radar, electro-optical systems and telemetry.
It added that “along with proving the salvo launch capability, the missiles demonstrated the waterline hit capability,” a strike profile designed to target a ship’s hull at or near the waterline to maximise flooding, structural damage and mission-kill potential.
The NASM-SR is India’s first indigenous helicopter-launched anti-ship missile and has been developed as a replacement for the ageing British-origin Sea Eagle missile currently used by naval Sea King helicopters.
The system is also planned for future integration with the MH-60R Seahawk and HAL Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) platforms.
The missile is powered by a solid-propellant system with an ejectable booster and long-burn sustainer, giving it a strike range of around 55 km with subsonic sea-skimming capability.
It includes several indigenously developed advanced systems such as an Imaging infra-red seeker, fibre-optic gyroscope-based inertial navigation system, radio altimeter, integrated avionics, electro-mechanical actuators, jet vane control and a high-bandwidth two-way data link that allows lock-on-after-launch and in-flight retargeting.
The missile has been developed primarly by Hyderabad-based Research Centre Imarat in collaboration with DRDO’s Defence Research and Development Laboratory, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory in Hyderabad and Pune, the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory in Chandigarh and ITR Chandipur.
Under the Development-cum-Production Partner model, Adani Defence and Aerospace is the main manufacturing partner, supported by micro, small and medium enterprises, start-ups and Indian industry vendors supplying subsystems and components.