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The Indian Air Force urgently needs to develop an air-launched cruise missile and a suitable delivery platform to counter China's advanced long-range strike capabilities
Image Source: Getty
The Indian Air Force (IAF) endures multiple weaknesses, but there are two that go almost completely unaddressed—an Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) and a bomber that can deliver it. These are the twin challenges that the IAF faces today. This weakness becomes particularly glaring in the face of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) advances with these capabilities. There is a veritable absence of any discussion and official announcements, let alone any information of tangible developmental progress on an ALCM and a bomber/fighter that can deliver it. Nirbhay, developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), is a subsonic missile with a range of 1,000 kilometres (Kms) with a terrain-hugging and sea-skimming capability.
Nirbhay, developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), is a subsonic missile with a range of 1,000 kilometres (Kms) with a terrain-hugging and sea-skimming capability..
In the early 2010s, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) launched the development of the “Nirbhay” Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) programme. Between 2013 and 2018, the DRDO conducted four experimental tests, out of which only one was successful in November 2017. The IAF was keen on getting an ALCM capability, which, once credibly qualified following extensive testing, would be integrated and launched from specially modified Sukhoi-30 MKIs at stand-off ranges against surface targets from the air. Going back to early 2018, then Air Chief Marshal (ACM) B.S. Dhanoa appointed a senior officer from the IAF to oversee the accelerated development of ALCM version of the Nirbhay and the DRDO agreed with the IAF following modifications to conduct a test drop in 2020 (release from aircraft) and test launch it by 2021. Yet there has been no evidence of progress since. After a series of failures and successes, the DRDO proceeded to test Nirbhay in October 2020 at the height of the boundary crisis between India and China, precipitated by the latter earlier that summer. The missile test, which had a range of 1,000 kilometres (Kms) and a speed of Mach 0.7, failed, despite using a brand new native Small Turbo Fan Engine (STEF) developed by the DRDO’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE).
Nirbhay has both naval and land attack variants of the projectile. Indeed, limited numbers of the land attack version of the missile are believed to have been even deployed along the LAC for launch from ground-based platforms. The naval variant of the missile is being developed as a Submarine Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM). The Nirbhay has yielded tangible technological benchmarks such as the STEF, also dubbed the ‘Manik’, and an improved Radio Frequency (RF) seeker built by Research Centre Imarat (RCI). However, it is the air-launched variant of the missile that has been the greatest disappointment so far and a weakness in India’s missile quiver. At the DRDO and the IAF’s end, there is neither visible advancement in meeting technical benchmarks for an ALCM nor an airborne platform that can deliver it. Further, official statements by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the DRDO on prospective or scheduled tests are conspicuously absent. This begs many questions. Is the ALCM variant of the Nirbhay abandoned, or is it not a priority? What are the impediments precluding further investment in the Nirbhay ALCM? If there are constraints, are they monetary or technical or a combination of both? These are relevant questions that demand answers.
The Nirbhay has yielded tangible technological benchmarks such as the STEF, also dubbed the ‘Manik’, and an improved Radio Frequency (RF) seeker built by Research Centre Imarat (RCI).
Meanwhile, the PLAAF has marched ahead with its H-6K bomber, which is a derivative of the Russian Tu-16 ‘Badger’ bomber. The H6K is equipped with very advanced turbofan engines and a better flight deck and serves as the airborne missile delivery platform. The H6K’s ALCM, dubbed the CJ-10A or CJ-10K is part of the CJ-10 or KD-20 class of cruise missiles that are evolved from land-based derivatives belonging to the ‘Honhhiao’ cruise missile family. The advantage that the H-6K bomber provides is that it extends the stand-off range of the CJ-10A from 1,500 kms to a deadly 4,000 kms. This the PLAAF can achieve by ensuring its H6-K bombers stay well within the Chinese hinterland or airspace while being able to strike India’s surface or land-based targets, not just close to the LAC on the Indian side, but equally deep inside the Indian landmass and territory. Intercepting the H6-K by IAF fighters will, to put it mildly, be very difficult, because as this author observed almost five years ago, they just do not have the range to intercept and engage the PLAAF’s H6-K bombers.
Thus, acquiring an Indian ALCM and a bomber becomes all the more urgent because it deprives China of strategic depth. An IAF ALCM capability delivered from a bomber platform or even a fighter jet from the Indian hinterland will allow the IAF to strike not just tactical Chinese military targets around the vicinity of the LAC, but equally at strategic targets across the depth and breadth of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), Xinjiang Autonomous Region (XAR), the Yunnan, Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. This requires deep penetration missile strikes against Chinese strategic targets such as communications, command and control centres, missile silos, early warning radars, mobile missile launchers, air bases, ammunition depots, weapons manufacturing facilities, critical infrastructure ranging from power stations to bridges, rail and roadways. Long-range strikes are already evident from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, with the Russians fearing Western-backed Ukrainian deep strike capabilities against Russian strategic targets located at depth that damage the Russian defence industrial base and economy. Indeed, China’s extant ALCM capability already gives it more than sufficient targeting opportunities against static and mobile surface targets spread across the Indian landmass. Even more menacingly, the PLAAF unveiled the H6-N—a modified version of H6-K with a combat radius of 3,500 kms and capable of delivering an Air Launched Ballistic Missile (ALBM) dubbed the CH-AS-X, which is manoeuvrable at hypersonic speeds with a 3,000 km range. It is equipped with a recessed weapons bay that allows improved aerodynamic performance, giving it a low Radar Cross Section (RCS) and a semi-conformal fuselage allowing the H6-N to carry a wide variety of ordinance, including ALCMS.
Acquiring an Indian ALCM and a bomber becomes all the more urgent because it deprives China of strategic depth..
India, for its part, successfully tested a hypersonic cruise missile with a range of 1,500 km in November 2024 with in-flight manoeuvring capability that allows it to change course rapidly, albeit no tests have been conducted since. According to some reports, the IAF is not enthusiastic about an air-launched hypersonic cruise missile, let alone a ballistic variant of the missile comparable to the CH-AS-X, due to problems associated with excessive weight and inadequate minaturisation. DRDO’s current efforts appear to be confined to ground-based hypersonic missiles. Regardless of hypersonic missiles, the IAF, the DRDO and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) need to clarify whether the subsonic Nirbhay ALCM is still an active programme and what its delivery platform is going to be.
Kartik Bommakanti is a Senior Fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Kartik Bommakanti is a Senior Fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme. Kartik specialises in space military issues and his research is primarily centred on the ...
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