Vertical Launch — Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM)

Posted By
10Pointer
Categories
Science & Technology
Published
25th Jun, 2022

Context

Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) has been successfully flight-tested by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy from an Indian Naval Ship at Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

What is VL-SRASAM?

The VL-SRSAM, a ship borne weapon system.
VL-SRSAM has been designed and developed jointly by three facilities of the Defence Research and Development Organisation for deployment of Indian Naval warships.
It is meant for neutralising various aerial threats at close ranges 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.

India’s Guided Weapon Program

The design of VL-SRSAM

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.
- Cruciform wings: The cruciform wings are four small wings arranged like a cross on four sides and give the projective a stable aerodynamic posture.
- Thrust vectoring: 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

Astra Missile

Astra is a Beyond Visual Range (BVR) class of air-to-air Missile (AAM) system designed to be mounted on fighter aircraft.
The missile has been designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for deployment on fighter jets like Sukhoi-30 MKI and Tejas of the IAF and the Mig-29K of the Navy.