
What are air-to-ground ballistic Air Lora missiles? Indian Air Force may procure these from..., these can...
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has taken several major steps to increase its strength and is still working rapidly in this direction. The IAF is considering adding a new and powerful missile to its fleet. This is the Air Lora missile made by Israel Aerospace Industries, which is an air-to-ground ballistic missile. This missile can take India's air power and defense capability to new heights.
Why this powerful missile?
India used Israel's Rampage missile against Pakistan in the recent conflict. After its success, the Air Force felt the need for a missile with long range, accurate target and one that could escape the enemy's defense system. That's when the option of Air Lora missile came in front of India.
What are its special features?
Air Lora is a missile made for deep strike. This missile can target enemy command centers, airports, naval ships present on the seashore. Its weight is about 1600 kg. It comes with two types of warheads, one which causes damage by explosion and the other can penetrate strong targets. This deadly missile travels at supersonic speed and can cover a distance of up to 400 km. This means that the Indian Air Force planes can attack even while staying away from the enemy's defense systems. Its accuracy is so great that it hits the target within a radius of less than 10 meters. The range of Brahmos is also around 400 km.
What is 'fire and forget' technique?
After firing it, the pilot gets the facility to move away immediately, so that the enemy cannot retaliate and the safety of the aircraft remains. This missile will be capable of carrying out fast and accurate attacks on targets located on the LAC with Pakistan or China. The tremendous range of the missile is one of its biggest strengths.

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India.com
2 hours ago
- India.com
Is India's good friend cheating it over jointly developed air defense system? The friend is..., it is selling DRDO's...,
New Delhi: India and Israel have had a strong defense partnership for the last several decades. But this is the first time that questions have been raised on the intentions of the friendly country. Allegations are being made that Israel is marketing and trying to sell this air defense system alone, which it had made in collaboration with India's DRDO. What is the advanced air defense system in question? Barak-8 is an advanced air defense system. This is the same system that intercepted and shot down a Pakistani missile in the sky in Sirsa, Haryana. It has been developed jointly by India's DRDO and Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries. According to the latest reports, Israel is now trying to sell this missile to some countries of the world by giving it a new name of 'Barak-MX'. Barak-8 was an important milestone in the strategic relations between the two countries, but Israel's attempt to sell this missile alone is going to trouble India. Why could it affect DRDO's credibility? A website named has claimed that Israel has not included the technology developed by DRDO in the export variant of Barak-8 air defense system. Especially the dual pulse rocket motor has not been included by Israel in the variant being sold. Israel's attempt to do so hurts the hard work of DRDO, its capability and the name it is building in the defense sector as it has made many weapons based on indigenous technology for India. What is the contribution of Indian entities in this project? India started this project in 2006 with Israel at an initial cost of Rs 2500 crore with an aim developing advanced air defense systems for both countries. This air defense system was designed to intercept ballistic missiles, advanced drones, cruise missiles and fighter aircraft up to the fourth generation. Major Indian defense companies including Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) were involved in the production of essential parts of this system. In collaboration with Israel, India has developed an advanced air defense system, which has also proved its capability by shooting down the Pakistani ballistic missile Fateh-2 in the air. DRDO developed a special dual-pulse rocket motor for the Barak air defense system which gives the missile fired from this air defense system the ability to maintain its speed and change direction suddenly until it hits the target. Israel also got a huge defense market like India for this missile defense system. Why is Israel selling this system unilaterally under a different name? Despite this, Israel is selling this system unilaterally under the name 'Barak MX' for which it has signed a deal with Azerbaijan for 12 Barak air defense systems. In 2022, Israel had signed a deal worth $ 500 million with Morocco. The main point of contention is that the Barak air defense systems that Israel is selling do not have dual-pulse rocket motors, which have been developed by DRDO. Reportedly, Israel is talking to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) about the sale of Barak defense systems. Is Israel trying to bypass India? According to by using its propulsion system in the export model of the Barak Defense System, Israel is bypassing the help that India has provided at the technology level. Due to this, India is not getting any benefit in the global defense market. Apart from this, the situation is also not clear regarding the intellectual property and data rights related to this project, which raises questions on India's technical and economic participation. According to the report, Israel's doing this has put New Delhi into action. It is believed that if Israel tries to make partnerships on a unilateral basis, then both future strategic cooperation and trust in Israel may be affected. This may affect future defense agreements between the two countries.


Mint
9 hours ago
- Mint
Operation Sindoor spurs $4.5 billion drive for cutting-edge defence technology
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'The most sophisticated technologies are right now not within the capabilities of Indian manufacturers, which necessitates us to procure cutting-edge weaponry from outside of India," said the second of the three officials. 'For the most part, the decisions were also sparked by dynamics among India's geographical neighbours and their internal collaborations, urging the ministry of defence to expedite India's access to contactless warfare infrastructure," this official said. The Indian Air Force is also in talks with multiple combat drone suppliers from the US, Israel, Ukraine and Russia to evaluate sourcing of unmanned aerial vehicles, according to the officials. The ministry of defence did not reply to emails sent on 22 July. Room for larger collaborations Procurement deals for the defence technologies are expected to be finalised by November for imports, and access likely to be made available as early as the first half of the next calendar year, according to the officials. While each deal would be of a relatively small quantum, the initial commercial agreements signed between the defence forces and the foreign entities in question would leave the room open for larger collaborations, the officials said. Currently, US defence supplier Shield AI is working with JSW Group's aerospace and military services subsidiary, JSW Defence and Aerospace, to indigenize its V-Bat drones. The two entities signed a $90-million partnership in December. A senior executive close to developments said Shield AI is in talks with the Indian Air Force to be a supplier as part of India's emergency procurement programme. 'The goal for Shield is two-pronged: to start with supplying its V-Bat drones to India as part of the emergency procurement programme, and subsequently be JSW Defence's technology partner in India's goal of using indigenous combat drones in the long run," the executive added, declining to be identified. Shield AI did not respond to Mint's queries emailed on 24 July. Other global defence technology vendors have also expressed interest in India's emergency procurement programme. 'India is one of the world's largest economies, and as we saw as part of the recent Operation Sindoor skirmish, non-contact warfare is a crucial aspect of future national security strategies," said Sameer Patil, director of centre for security, strategy and technology at global think-tank Observer Research Foundation. 'India's emergency procurement push involves both loitering munition and precision stand-off capabilities, which would expand India's conventional warfighting capabilities without having to climb the nuclear escalation ladder," Patil said. 'In case of major previous threats to national security such as in 2008 and 2016, the availability of cutting-edge drones and precision munitions is what India lacked." Sharper eye in the sky The uninterrupted space surveillance technology India is seeking will require ultra-high-resolution satellites as well as low-latency transmissions for round-the-clock operations. 'India's current surveillance satellite infrastructure is not sufficient to provide continuous surveillance because of the limited numbers. The gap is presently filled by taking imagery from foreign commercial companies," said Anil Kumar Bhatt, director general of space industry body, Indian Space Association. 'India's Space-Based Surveillance-3 (SBS-3) programme, under the Centre, is currently being implemented to bring such capabilities through 52 satellites, of which 31 will be supplied by the private sector," he added. For deeper capability building in defence technology, however, India needs to invest actively in research and development. The current emergency procurement contracts are not expected to come with indigenisation and technology transfer agreements. The current spree of emergency procurement 'underlines India's need to invest in defence-led research and development, including incentivizing the private sector to spend more," said Patil. Incidentally, in the 2025-26 Union Budget, the government increased the allocation to India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) by 12% to $3.1 billion.


India.com
a day ago
- India.com
Meet ET-LDHCM, India's game-changer deadly hypersonic missile which can move at Mach 8 speed, has 1500 km range, bad news for Pakistan, China due to…
(Representational image/AP) DRDO ET-LDHCM: In a significant development in India's internal security needs, India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a new hypersonic missile called ET-LDHCM (Extended Trajectory – Long Duration Hypersonic Cruise Missile) under a confidential project reportedly named 'Project Vishnu'. Here are all the details you need to know about Extended Trajectory – Long Duration Hypersonic Cruise Missile. Why is ET-LDHCM dangerous? As per media reports, the new Extended Trajectory – Long Duration Hypersonic Cruise Missile will be able to travel at speeds up to Mach 8 (approximately 9,800 to 11,000 km/h) and is designed for a range of around 1,500 km. Reports also say that if experts confirm the specifications, the missile would place it well above current cruise missile capabilities like BrahMos in both speed and range. India speeds up work on bunker-buster warhead for Agni missile with eye on underground targets Meanwhile, in another significant development, India speeded up efforts to develop advanced bunker-buster warheads as part of a variant of the Agni missile system that is capable of penetrating high-value enemy targets that are fortified deep under the ground and cannot be destroyed with conventional weapons. According to a report by news agency IANS, the move has been expedited following the success of the US strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities that were buried deep beneath the earth in the mountainside and covered with reinforced concrete. DRDO successfully conducts scramjet engine ground test DRDO has successfully done a cutting-edge Active Cooled Scramjet Combustor (engine) ground test for 120 seconds for the first time in India. An official said that it marks a crucial milestone in developing next-generation hypersonic missiles. What are Hypersonic missiles? Hypersonic missiles are a class of advanced weaponry that travel at speeds greater than Mach 5 which is five times the speed of sound or more than 5,400 km/hr. These advanced weapons have the potential to bypass existing Air Defence Systems and deliver rapid and high-impact strikes. (With inputs from agencies)