Long Range – Anti Ship Missile (India)

The Long Range – Anti Ship Missile (LRAShM) is a hypersonic missile being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Armed Forces.

The anti-ship version, which can be fired from a shore-based transporter erector launcher (TEL), is the first variant that is undergoing developmental trials for the Indian Navy. A ship-launched naval variant is also being developed. Further land-based land attack variants of the missile will also be developed for use by the Armed Forces as part of the future Integrated Rocket Force.

History

According to A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, who spoke at the Defence Research and Development Organization Directors Conference on February 21, 2007, one of the defence systems that will be required over the next 15 years is hypersonic weaponry. Work on a hypersonic vehicle propelled by scramjet, a propulsion system that uses outside air to power combustion, started in 2008. Compared to a rocket, it is more effective. Although funding was insufficient for large-scale testing and system engineering, there has been a notable advancement in the field of computational fluid dynamics, which is essential for building hypersonic vehicles.

On 19 December 2020, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally inaugurated the ₹400 crore, Hypersonic Wind Tunnel (HWT) test facility at the Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Missile Complex. With a nozzle exit diameter of one meter and the ability to replicate speeds between Mach 5 to 12, the HWT facility is an enclosed free jet facility powered by pressure and vacuum. The facility was put into service in October 2019. It was the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) that first proposed the HWT facility. Following China's two hypersonic weapons tests in the summer of 2021, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stressed the need for hypersonic weapon development during a lecture held at DRDO on December 14, 2021. India has about 12 hypersonic wind tunnels and can test speeds of up to Mach 13, according to the October 2021 Congressional Research Service Report.

In February 2024, IIT Kanpur built and evaluated the Hypervelocity Expansion Tunnel Test Facility, referred to as S2, in the Department of Aerospace Engineering's Hypersonic Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory (HEAL). Ballistic missile launches, scramjet flights, and extreme hypersonic conditions of atmospheric entry can all be replicated at the S2 facility. It is anticipated that the facility will support ISRO and DRDO's Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle, RLV Technology Demonstration Programme, and Gaganyaan. It can generate flight speeds between Mach 8 to 29. The 2020 test of HSTDV validated aerodynamic configuration of vehicle, ignition and sustained combustion of scramjet engine at hypersonic flow, separation mechanisms and characterised thermo-structural materials.

Development

DRDO has developed a number of missiles for the Indian Armed Forces. These include the K Missile family, the Prithvi series, the Agni series, Pralay, Prahaar and Shaurya. With the exception of the Pralay and Prahaar missiles, which carry conventional warheads with a restricted range of up to and are intended for tactical battlefield assistance, the majority of the long-range missiles have nuclear warheads. The development of a conventionally armed missile with a range of more than was therefore deemed necessary in order to counter ship-based threats in the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and Arabian Sea, as well as land-based threats from beyond the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the provinces of Xinjiang, Tibet, and Yunnan. To address this requirement, by September 2022, DRDO had completed design work of a land-based range missile to attack targets across Line of Actual Control with an anti ship variant against adversary aircraft carriers to cover Indian carriers in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.

Two missiles were introduced to meet these operational needs. An under development missile was first mentioned in the 2023 Year End Review of the Ministry of Defence, designated Long Range – Anti Ship Missile (LRAShM). Another missile, designated BM-04, was developed through 2024 and its model displayed in March 2025 as a further developed variant of Agni-P ballistic missile in order to "neutralise enemy anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities and ensure that the Indian defence forces do not face any operational restrictions in a highly contested battlefield". The BM-04 was developed as a response the requirement of the Indian Armed Forces to equip the proposed Integrated Rocket Force with a 1,500 km range-class conventional ballistic missile.

The LRAShM missile is being developed at the Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Missile Complex in Hyderabad with other DRDO laboratories and industry partners. The Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE) assigned the responsibility for developing the dummy article to simulate load and force on the vehicle during trials to Sterling Techno-Systems, a private sector business based in Pune. The aerodynamic characterization research was conducted at the 1.2m Trisonic Wind Tunnel Facility of the National Aerospace Laboratories.

Design

The missile features a delta-wing hypersonic glide vehicle mounted on a missile booster which sends launch it partially into orbit. The HGV can perform terminal maneuvers and follow highly complex and adaptive flight paths. It has a demonstrated range of at least . The missile will have several warhead configurations for use in various roles by all the branches of the Indian Armed Forces.

LRAShM is cold-launched from a hermetically sealed container. Before the first-stage solid rocket motor ignites, it fires attitude control thrusters twice. Beginning around 8 seconds after lift-off, the missile's trajectory shifts from vertical to horizontal in about 6 seconds. A booster stage and a hypersonic sustainer engine make up the two solid propellant rocket stages of the LRAShM. The mid-body of the rocket has cruciform, short span, and long chord aerodynamic surfaces, while the aft body has four small triangular fins. Fins give flight stability, whereas mid-body aerodynamic surfaces give lift, flight path control, and maneuverability. The cruciform design lowers aerodynamic drag at high speed.

Hypersonic glide vehicles travel at a lower speed and altitude during the terminal phase as compared to traditional ballistic missiles, making them potentially vulnerable to sophisticated terminal phase interceptors if defensive assets are properly positioned. However, the midcourse phase flight profile of a hypersonic glide vehicle is flatter than that of a ballistic missile, which makes it possible to maneuver beneath or around missile defense radar scanning arcs.

Testing

* The first test was conducted on an unspecified date in 2023 as per the 2023 Year End Review of the Ministry of Defence.
* The missile was again tested on 16 November 2024 from the Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha. The missile was tracked by optical sensors. The test was successful and terminal maneuvers and accuracy of the missile met the development team's expectations. Given that the missile and canister were designated "LR-02," it's possible that this was India's second test. Earlier, a report had suggested the test launch of a similar anti-ship ballistic missile that could target warships and aircraft carriers at long distances of over .

Reactions to testing

"The test is part of a larger trend towards high speed maneuvering missiles of various types," said Tom Karako, a missile defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. According to Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Nuclear Policy Program, the test is a developmental step, depending on whether the technology gets approval from the government and whether it will culminate to affordable procurement plans. Indian strategists were considering the issue of guarantee future retaliation due to China's increasing mid-course missile defense capabilities which makes hypersonic payloads attractive.

See also

* List of Indian military missiles – a list of missiles used by or under development for Indian Armed Forces.
* NASM-MR -Indian Naval anti-ship missile
* NASM-SR -Indian Naval anti-ship missile
* DF-ZF – a Chinese hypersonic glide vehicle
* Avangard – a Russian hypersonic glide vehicle
* Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 – an American hypersonic glide vehicle programme
* Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon – an American hypersonic ballistic missile programme
* 3M22 Zircon – a Russian hypersonic missile
* Kh-47M2 Kinzhal – a Russian hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile
* Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile – an American hypersonic cruise missile programme

References

{{Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

Surface-to-surface missiles of India
Ballistic missiles of India
Medium-range ballistic missiles
Defence Research and Development Organisation
Military equipment introduced in the 2020s