Explained: What are loitering munitions and India’s need for this modern weaponry

‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ in the defence sphere got a boost when India successfully test-fired three ‘Made in India’ loitering munitions in Ladakh.

The newly-developed Loitering Munitions (LM0, LM1 and Hexacopter) were tested in Nubra Valley area of Ladakh during 21-23 March.

In addition to this, the Indian Army has also placed a request for more smart loiter munitions, termed Canister Launched Anti-Armour Loiter Munitions (CALM) Systems, which the Armed Forces want to deploy in the plains and deserts along the western borders, as well as in high altitude areas up to 16,500 feet along the northern frontier.

Here’s a better understanding of what loitering munitions are and how they will help the Armed Forces.

What exactly are loitering munitions?

Loitering munition is a category of weapon systems, the main elements of which are an unmanned platform with a warhead. Simply put, they are a mix of a surface-to-surface missile and a drone.

While a missile, once fired heads straight to its target after a flight of usually a few minutes, loiter munitions are launched in a manner similar to a drone and they stay aloft for a longer time, surveying a designated area and seeking targets. Once a target is identified and locked on, they act as a missile to destroy it.

If a mission is aborted or there are no suitable targets, loiter munitions can be recovered. Loiter munitions, however, are smaller, cheaper and less complex systems than combat or armed drones.

Loitering munitions are an asset to the artillery branch of the Army as they are able to detect and take out static and moving targets across all types of landscape — from mountains to deserts.

The weapons systems is able to destroy radar installations, air defence systems and communication centres and dynamic targets such as enemy vehicles and troops.

What loitering munitions were tested in Ladakh?

Now, that we have a better understanding of loitering munitions, we take a look at the ‘Made in India’ weapons system that was tested in Ladakh in March.

The three loitering munitions were developed jointly by Economic Explosives Limited, a subsidiary of Solar Industries India Ltd, and Zmotion Autonomous Systems.

According to a report in the Economic Times, the man portable munitions can take off with a 4 kg warhead, flying for an hour and homing at ground-based targets with precision.

Moreover, the ‘Made in India’ weaponry is expected to be at least 40 per cent cheaper than imports from Israel and Poland.

According to reported information, while the LM0 and LM1 achieved full endurance of 60 minutes, the hexacopter did 30 minutes flight with 4 Kg warhead.

The testing of the weapons system becomes more significant as loitering munitions was recently placed on the import ban list by the Ministry of Defence.

India’s request for more

The Indian Army has placed a request for 150 Canister Launched Anti-Armour Loiter Munitions (CALM) Systems.

According to an Indian Express report, the CALM System is a pre-loaded canister with loiter ammunition or a drone which once fired can remain aloft for a period of time over the area of operation, and when a target is sighted it can be guided down to destroy the target with the explosive payload that it carries.

The CALM system was used in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in 2021. Azerbaijan used this weaponry to take out the Armenian tanks and other military targets.

There are also reports that the Russians are using loiter ammunition in Ukraine.

India already uses the Israeli Harop loitering munition and in September 2021, placed an order for 100 explosive-laden 'SkyStrikers’, capable of long-range tactical strikes from Bengaluru-headquartered firm Alpha Design, in a joint venture (JV) with Israeli firm Elbit Security Systems.

With inputs from agencies

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