Source: TN
Subject: Security
Context: India achieved a significant milestone in its indigenous maritime strike program by successfully conducting the maiden salvo launch of the Naval Anti-Ship Missile Short Range (NASM-SR) from a Sea King helicopter.
About Naval Anti-Ship Missile Short Range (NASM-SR):
What It Is?
- An advanced, air-launched anti-ship missile system designed to replace aging foreign-origin missiles like the British Sea Eagle. The NASM-SR is India’s first indigenously developed helicopter-launched anti-ship missile system.
Developed By: The Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories.
Aim: To provide the Indian Navy with a high-precision, indigenous strike capability against maritime targets, enhancing the Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India) initiative in defense.
Key Features:
- Propulsion: Powered by a solid-propellant system featuring an ejectable booster for launch and a long-burn sustainer for flight.
- Range and Profile: Capable of striking targets at a range of approximately 55 km with a subsonic sea-skimming flight profile to avoid radar detection.
- Strike Accuracy: Demonstrates waterline hit capability, specifically targeting a ship’s hull at the waterline to cause maximum flooding and structural failure.
- Guidance and Navigation: Utilizes a fiber-optic gyroscope-based inertial navigation system, a radio altimeter, and an advanced Imaging Infra-Red (IIR) seeker for precision targeting.
- Connectivity: Equipped with a high-bandwidth two-way data link that allows for lock-on-after-launch and in-flight retargeting.
- Control System: Features an electro-mechanical actuator and jet vane control for high maneuverability.
- Platform Integration: Primarily launched from Sea King helicopters, with future plans for integration onto MH-60R Seahawk and HAL Dhruv (ALH) platforms.
Significance:
- The successful launch of two missiles in quick succession from a single platform validates a critical operational capability for real-world naval combat.
- It marks a major shift from dependency on aging British-origin Sea Eagle missiles to a fully indigenous ecosystem involving start-ups and MSMEs.
