Indian Rafale fighter jet adds Hammer stand-off weapon to its lethal arsenal

France has agreed to equip Indian Rafale fighters with air-to-surface Hammer all-weather sensible weapon other than air-to-air MICA, METEOR missiles and air-to-ground SCALP stand-off weapon. The Hammer is a hearth and overlook weapon that may be launched from a really quick vary to a really lengthy vary of 70 kilometres with out availability of GPS and has excessive resistance to jamming and goal location errors.

According to senior officers, the Hammer contract was signed between the 2 governments in September 2020 and the weapons in massive numbers will probably be delivered to the Golden Arrows Squadron of Indian Air Force station in Ambala by the top of this month. The Hindustan Times is just not disclosing the contract or the overall numbers.

The defence cooperation between India and France is such that usually the Hammer weapon would have been delivered to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in a yr however the French air pressure has determined to half with restricted weapons from their stock to cater to New Delhi’s pressing requirement. The Rafale fighter is on the frontline of the IAF, which is presently on excessive state of alert on account of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aggression at 4 factors alongside the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The second batch of three Rafale fighters flew from Bordeaux final night time utilizing air-to-air refuellers and joined the Ambala squadron right this moment.

The Hammer weapon can be utilized for multi-target assault and has zero upkeep on account of lowered life cycle price. With information hyperlink functionality, the weapon is conscious of the hostile atmosphere and has full flexibility to strike on the goal. In addition to using devoted warhead and an air burst capability, the angle of affect may be arrange until a full vertical dive for max destruction.

While MICA has air-to-air kill at a most vary of 80 km, the METEOR missile has a past visible vary touching close to 140 km. The SCALP is an air-to-ground stand-off weapon with a 300 km vary and a 450 kilogram warhead. It flies just under the pace of sound and had imaging infra-red terminal steering.

With the arrival of Hammer weapon, the Indian Rafale has now a full armament complement with the capability to dominate and destroy the adversary, whether or not or not it’s a JF-17 fighter with Pakistan Air Force or J-20 fighter with the PLA Air Force.