Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) debuts Long Range Anti-Ship Hypersonic Missile (LR-AShM) at 77th Republic Day Parade

Key facts

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) displayed the Long Range Anti-Ship Hypersonic Missile (LR-AShM) for the first time at the 77th Republic Day Parade on Kartavya Path.
• The LR-AShM is designed to meet the coastal battery requirements of the Indian Navy and can engage static and moving targets within a range of around 1,500 kilometers.
• The missile follows a quasi-ballistic trajectory, starts at hypersonic speed of Mach 10, maintains an average speed of Mach 5, and uses a two-stage solid propulsion rocket motor system.
• After Stage-II burnout, the vehicle performs an unpowered glide with manoeuvres in the atmosphere, making detection by enemy radars difficult due to low-altitude, high-speed flight.
• Versions with ranges up to 3,500 kilometers are under development and the missile is expected to be inducted into the Indian Navy in two to three years.
• The LR-AShM draws key components from the submarine-launched ballistic missile Sagarika (K-15) and the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile.
• DRDO successfully tested the missile on 16 November 2024 from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.
• DRDO also achieved a ground test run of over 12 minutes with its Actively Cooled Scramjet Full Scale Combustor earlier this month, building on a subscale test of more than 1,000 seconds conducted on 25 April last year.
• In September 2020, DRDO demonstrated hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology with the Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle flight test from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Launch Complex.