In News
- Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) was successfully flight-tested by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).
What is VL-SRSAM?
- About:
- It has been designed and developed jointly by three facilities of the Defence Research and Development Organisation for the deployment of Indian Naval warships.
- It is a canisters 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
- Capability:
- It has been designed to strike high-speed airborne targets at the range of 40 to 50 km and at an altitude of around 15 km.
- Its design is based on the Astra missile which is a Beyond Visual Range Air to Air missile.
- 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 the sea surface and thus are difficult to detect and neutralise.
- Features:
- 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 the ability to change the direction of the thrust from its engine to control the angular velocity and the attitude of the missile.
- Significance:
- This success will further enhance the defence capability of Indian Naval Ships against aerial threats.
Source:PIB
