Giving a boost to self-reliance in niche missile technology, the Indian Navy in association with the Defence Research and Development (DRDO), on 18 May, successfully conducted the maiden test of an indigenous Naval Anti-Ship Missile (Short Range) or NASM-SR. It was fired from a Seaking helicopter.

The indigenously developed air launched naval anti-ship missile test took place at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.  The mission met all its objectives. The missile followed the desired sea skimming trajectory and reached the designated target with high degree of accuracy, validating the control, guidance and mission algorithms, officials later said. All sub-systems performed satisfactorily and the sensors deployed across the test range and near impact point tracked the missile trajectory and captured all events.

The missile employed many new technologies, including an indigenously developed launcher for the helicopter. The missile guidance system includes state-of-the-art navigation system and integrated avionics. 

The test-firing of the new missile came over a month after an anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired jointly by the Indian Navy and the Andaman and Nicobar Command.

What is the NASM-SR?

The NASM-SR has been developed by the DRDO. The first time its development was revealed to the general public was in 2018 when then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a reference to it in Parliament. Later, it was also part of the display at the 2020 Defence Exposition held in Lucknow.

The NASM-SR has a range of 55 km and weighs 385 kg. This missile will replace the Sea Eagle missiles which are currently in use with the Navy.

While the specifications list only the Sea King helicopter as the launch platform for the new missile, it may also be integrated with the MH-60R helicopters that will join the Indian Navy over the next few years.

The Indian Navy is not new to helicopter-launched anti-ship missiles. It had equipped its Sea King helicopters with the British-built Sea Eagle missiles in the 1980s. The Sea Eagle had a range of around 100km and weight of around 600kg and used a radar seeker. The heavier weight of the missile would increase the take-off weight of the Sea King helicopter, reducing its range in flight. In comparison, the NASM-SR imposes a lower weight penalty on the Sea King and similar helicopters.

Technical Aspects

The lighter warhead of the NASM-SR is capable of doing significant damage. The NASM-SR carries a warhead of 100 kg and has sub-sonic capabilities, which means that it flies below the speed of sound at 0.8 Mach. The sub-sonic flight speed makes it difficult for the naval vessels on target to detect it.

The use of an IIR seeker means the NASM-SR is impervious to radar jamming by enemy warships and also less likely to be detected on approach as it is not using a radar to track its target.

It has a launch altitude of maximum of 3 km and can skim 5 metres above sea level when on final approach to the target. The NASM-SR can also be fired from the shore to target vessels in the sea.

This kind of land-based missile launch capability was shown by the Ukrainian military recently when they used a anti-ship cruise missile to sink the Russian ship Moskva.

The Moskva sinking  in the Black Sea and the loss of British warships in the Falklands War of 1982 show that modern navy ships have enough flammable material on board (fuel, wiring, weapons, electronics etc.) that can exacerbate the damage done by even small anti-ship missiles.

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The indigenously developed air launched naval anti-ship missile test took place at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha. The mission met all its objectives. The missile followed the desired sea skimming trajectory and reached the designated target with high degree of accuracy, validating the control, guidance and mission algorithms, officials later said. All sub-systems performed satisfactorily and the sensors deployed across the test range and near impact point tracked the missile trajectory and captured all events.

The missile employed many new technologies, including an indigenously developed launcher for the helicopter. The missile guidance system includes state-of-the-art navigation system and integrated avionics. The flight test was witnessed by senior officers of the DRDO and the Indian Navy.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO, Navy and associated teams for the maiden developmental flight test. He said India has attained a high level of capability in indigenous design and development of missile systems.

Chief of DRDO Satheesh Reddy said the system will strengthen offensive capability of Indian Navy. The Navy has been steadily enhancing its overall combat capability to effectively protect India’s maritime security interests, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.

The test-firing of the new missile came over a month after an anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired jointly by the Indian Navy and the Andaman and Nicobar Command.

The Navy is strengthening its operational capabilities and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday launched two frontline warships of the Indian Navy.

The ships — INS Surat and INS Udaygiri — were launched at the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai. INS Surat is the fourth guided-missile destroyer of the P15B class, while INS Udaygiri is the second stealth frigate of the P17A class.

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DRDO had, in November, successfully tested the high-speed expendable aerial target (HEAT), ABHYAS, used for evaluation of various missile systems, from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur.

The VL-SRSAM has been designed and developed jointly by three facilities of the DRDO. The key DRDO facilities that contributed to the development of the system are Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and Research Centre Imarat (RCI), both from Hyderabad, and Research & Development Establishment (Engineers) based in Pune.

The missile has the capability of neutralising various aerial threats at close ranges including sea-skimming targets. The tactic of sea skimming is used by various anti-ship missiles and some fighter jets to avoid being detected by the radars onboard warships. For this, these assets fly as close as possible to sea surface and thus are difficult to detect and neutralise.

The missile has been designed to strike at the high-speed airborne targets at the range of 40 to 50 km and at an altitude of around 15 km. DRDO officials have said its design is based on Astra missile which is a Beyond Visual Range Air to Air missile. Two key features of the VL-SRSAM are cruciform wings and thrust vectoring. The cruciform wings are four small wings arranged like a cross on four sides and give the projective a stable aerodynamic posture. The thrust vectoring is an ability to change the direction of the thrust from its engine control the angular velocity and the attitude of the missile.

VL-SRSAM is a canisterised system, which means it is stored and operated from specially designed compartments. In the canister, the inside environment is controlled, thus making its transport and storage easier and improving the shelf life of weapons

The test on 7 December, was conducted from a vertical launcher against an electronic target at a very low altitude. “The flight path of the vehicle along with health parameters were monitored using a number of tracking instruments deployed by ITR, Chandipur. All sub-systems performed as per expectation.” said a press statement from the Ministry of DefenCe. In its maiden trial held on February 22, the DRDO had tested the weapon system twice.

The 7 December launch of the system was conducted to validate integrated operation of all weapon system components including the vertical launcher unit with controller, canisterised flight vehicle, weapon control system. .

A warship has to employ various defence mechanisms to protect itself from anti-ship missiles and adversary aircraft. One of the age-old methods is chaffs — which is a countermeasure technology used worldwide to protect naval ships from enemy’s radar and Radio Frequency (RF) missile seekers. Another method is deploying missiles to counter Anti Ship missiles. These systems have to have a swift detection mechanism, quick response, high speed and high manoeuvrability. The VL-SRSAM claims to have all these qualities. However, it will have to undergo tests in different conditions and configurations to be ready for deployment on board Indian Naval Ships.

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