DRDO & Indian Navy Test Vertical Launch Short-Range Surface-to-Air Missile

India’s Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO) and the Navy flight tested Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) on August 23, 2022.

The flight test was carried out from an Indian Naval Ship against a high-speed unmanned aerial target for demonstration of vertical launch capability. The missiles, equipped with indigenous Radio Frequency (RF) seeker, intercepted the target with high accuracy. The VL-SRSAM system has been indigenously designed and developed by DRDO.

The test was conducted at Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.

During the test launch, flight path and vehicle performance parameters were monitored using flight data, captured by various Range instruments such as Radar, Electro-optical tracking system (EOTS) and Telemetry systems deployed by ITR, Chandipur. The launch was monitored by senior scientists from various DRDO labs involved in the design and development of the system such as Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad and R&D Engineers, Pune, Indian defense ministry said in a release.

The missile has been designed to strike at the 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 Astra missile which is a Beyond Visual Range Air to Air missile.

As per local media, two key features of the VL-SRSAM are cruciform wings and thrust vectoring. The cruciform ings are four small wings arranged like a cross on four sides and give the projective a stable aerodynamic posture. The thrust vectoring is an ability to change the direction of the thrust from its engine control the angular velocity and the attitude of the missile.