France has agreed to equip Indian Rafale fighters with an air-to-ground Hammer all-weather smart weapon, in addition to air-to-air MICA, METEOR missiles and SCALP air-to-ground separation weapon. The Hammer is a shoot and forget weapon that can be launched from a very short range to a very long range of 70 kilometers without GPS availability and has a high resistance to interference and target location errors.
According to senior officials, the Hammer contract was signed between the two governments in September 2020 and the weapons in bulk will be delivered to the Golden Arrows Squadron at the Ambala Indian Air Force station later this month. The Hindustan Times does not reveal the contract or the total figures.
The Hammer weapon that will be equipped on the Rafale jets
Defense cooperation between India and France is such that normally the Hammer weapon would have been delivered to the Indian Air Force (IAF) within a year, but the French air force has decided to part with the limited weapons from its inventory to meet urgent needs. from New Delhi. requirement. The Rafale fighter is on the IAF’s front line, which is currently on high alert due to aggression by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at four points along the Royal Line of Control (LAC). The second batch of three Rafale fighters flew from Bordeaux last night using air-to-air refuelers and joined Ambala squadron today.
The Hammer weapon can be used for multi-target attacks and is maintenance free due to reduced life cycle cost. With the data link capability, the weapon is aware of the hostile environment and has full flexibility to attack the target. In addition to the use of a dedicated warhead and air blast capability, the angle of impact can be set up to full vertical immersion for maximum destruction.
While MICA has an air-to-air kill capability at a maximum range of 80 km, the METEOR missile has a visual range beyond touching about 140 km. The SCALP is an air-to-ground separation weapon with a range of 300 km and a 450 kilogram warhead. It flies just below the speed of sound and had a terminal infrared imaging guide.
With the advent of the Hammer weapon, the Indian Rafale now has a full complement of armaments with the ability to dominate and destroy the adversary, be it a JF-17 fighter with the Pakistan Air Force or a J-20 fighter with the Air Force. PLA.
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