The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) decision to procure close to 400 Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM) HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) PGMs from the SAGEM subsidiary of France SAFRAN Group along with related RAFAUT-built AUF-2 dual ejector racks for arming its Tejas Mk.1 L-MRCAs is yet another significant step further in the IAF’s attempt to play a significant role as far as joint AirLand ground campaigns go.
Available in 125kg, 250kg, 500kg and 1,000kg versions, the variant that the IAF is procuring is the 250kg variant of AASM/HAMMER, whose primary targets will be the network of unmanned SIGINT stations (encased within white-coloured domes & often mistaken for airspace surveillance radars) and static sites housing Ukraine-origin MANDAT-B1E R-330UM jammers that have since 2011 sprung up at dominating heights all along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Secondary targets will be the high-altitude gunpits that have been constructed since 2017 at locations like the area north of Nathu La and at Chakung facing northeast Sikkim.
To be used in the opening hours of any future military conflict with either China or Pakistan, the 250kg AASM/HAMMER PGMs will enable the Tejas Mk.1s as well as the projected Tejas Mk.1As to launch such PGMs despite flying low at an altitude of 500 feet AMSL over the plains in the western front—a feat which gliding PGMs cannot achieve. When the battlespace is over high-altitude plateau areas or even over mountainous terrain, the Tejas Mk.1s/Mk.1As will be able to fly terrain-masking flight-profles (like flying over river-valleys) to evade detection by hostile ground-based air-defence networks and yet be able to launch the AASM/HAMMER from standoff distances.
This is because all versions of the AASM/HAMMER are propelled by a solid-fuel rocket motor allows the AASM/HAMMER to effortlessly cruise forward and change its altitude upwards for a pop-up cruise phase and vertical-attack in the terminal phase. A laser-homing variant of this PGM was once released from a Rafale that also designated (with a laser designator pod) the 90-degree off-axis target, at 15km range. The PGM launch was deliberately conducted on a partly cloudy day, with the PGM being initially guided toward the target by GPS, while the Rafale descended below the clouds to activate the laser of its LDP.
A Tejas Mk.1/Mk.1A will be able to carry four AASM/HAMMER PGMs, which will be launched in a vertical attack mode that can be selected from the cockpit. The laser-guided version can also be used against targets moving at 80kph--twice the limit of LGBs--and it is easier to operate from a single-pilot MRCA.
Weapons interfacing will be a seamless affair since the source-codes for the stores management system of the Tejas Mk.1/Mk/1A are owned by the DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency.
