In a joint exercise, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy on Wednesday carried out a series of successful flight-trials of the first-of-its-kind short-range naval anti-ship missiles (NASM-SR) from a test facility off the Odisha coast.
The missile, launched from an Indian Navy Sea King helicopter, demonstrated its capability against ship targets, marking a significant advancement in India’s defense technology, said the Ministry of Defence in a statement.
“The trials have proven the missile’s man-in-loop feature and scored a direct hit on a small ship target in sea-skimming mode at its maximum range. The mission also has demonstrated the high bandwidth two-way data-link system, which is used to transmit the seeker live images back to the pilot for in-flight re-targeting,” the statement said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, the Indian Navy, and industry partners on the successful flight test, emphasizing that the Man-in-Loop feature is a critical advancement, offering in-flight retargeting capabilities.
It is equipped with an indigenous imaging infra-red seeker for terminal guidance, ensuring high-accuracy strikes.
The missile uses an indigenous fiber optic gyroscope-based inertial navigation system and radio altimeter for its mid-course guidance.
It also has an integrated avionics module, electro-mechanical actuators for aerodynamic and jet vane control, thermal batteries and PCB warhead. Besides, it uses solid propulsion with an in-line ejectable booster and a long-burn sustainer. “The trials have met all the mission objectives,” the MoD said.
The missile can be easily fired from ships and land-based launch platforms. DRDO is also developing a long range version of it for attacking land targets. Since the Sea King helicopters are being phased out, source said, the Navy’s newly acquired MH-60R naval helicopters will be equipped with the NASM.
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Developed by different labs of DRDO including Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) and Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), the short range NASM is likely to replace the Sea Eagle class missiles now in service.
