1,500 kilometres in 15 minutes! DRDO’s LR-AShM hypersonic glide missile for Indian Navy to be revealed on Republic Day: Report

Come 26 January, the world will get to see the Long-Range Anti-Ship Hypersonic Glide Missile (LR-AShM), developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Navy, a report said. Thus, the Republic Day parade will officially mark India's shift from a traditional sea-denial doctrine to an accurate, swift, and resilient strike concept that threatens high-value naval assets of the enemy, it added.

The LR-AShM, which can get past radars without being detected, can reportedly strike targets as far as 1,500 kilometres away. This means New Delhi's naval forces will be capable of hitting coastal bases, installations, and island territories, in addition to enemy naval fleets many miles away. India now enters an elite list of nations, including the United States, Russia, and China, with confirmed access to a hypersonic anti-ship strike system, Defence Security Asia said in a report.

Deployment and future plans

Initially, these missiles will be operated via mobile launchers mounted on trucks, with a focus on rapid deployment capability, high survivability, and operational unpredictability. Future phases of the project are expected to develop variants that can be launched from ships, submarines, and even aircraft.

"From a military deterrence perspective, LR-AShM compresses enemy response time from tens of minutes to just a few minutes, thus forcing opposing naval planners to confront a new threat environment where traditional layered air defence architectures risk becoming structurally inadequate," the Defence Security Asia report said. It further quoted Defence Ministry sources as saying that the system is equipped with 'Made in India' sensors which will help to engage moving targets in the terminal phase. The missile reportedly flies at low altitude at an incredible speed, helping it to steer clear of enemy ground and ship radars.

Explaining the working of the weapon system, the report further said, "After booster separation, the hypersonic glide vehicle re-enters the upper atmosphere at a shallow angle while maintaining speeds in excess of Mach 5 and potentially approaching Mach 10 — which is around 12,000 kilometres per hour — while using aerodynamic lift to extend horizontal flight range. This design allows the missile to traverse its full operational range of around 1,500 kilometres in about 15 minutes, a timeline that drastically limits the sensor-to-firer cycle as well as the adversary's decision-making capacity."

With its capability to traverse its full operational range in about 15 minutes, the LR-AShM compresses enemy response time from tens of minutes to just a few minutes. The report pointed out that this hands a major advantage to the Indian Navy from a deterrence perspective, as enemy decision-makers would be forced to scramble in the face of a grave threat which cannot be thwarted by traditional layered air defence mechanisms.