Aero India 2023: IAI, BEL to jointly produce LORA missiles in India

Israel Aerospace Industries displayed the Long-Range Artillery surface-to-surface missile system at the Aero India 2023 show held in Bangalore from 13 to 17 February. (Janes/Kapil Kajal)

India's state-run Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will jointly produce the Long-Range Artillery (LORA) surface-to-surface missile system in India, BEL told Janes at the Aero India 2023 show held in Bangalore from 13 to 17 February.

A BEL official told Janes that the company will be the production partner for LORA missiles in India, while IAI will provide the technology. He added that the LORA missiles are already inducted into the Indian Navy.

According to Janes Weapons: Ammunition, LORA is also known as a ‘quasi-ballistic' missile system. It has been designed for both naval and land-based applications. The missile follows a ballistic trajectory at supersonic speed to the target but can perform random or programmed in-flight evasive manoeuvres to mitigate tracking and interception.

In the naval configuration, the missile is delivered in a four-cell container, with minimal deck space requirement. In the land-based configuration, LORA is launched from a sealed four-cell launcher mounted on a flatbed truck.

A typical LORA mobile battery comprises four ground launchers (16 missiles), four reload vehicles (16 ready-to-reload missiles), and a separate battery command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) post.

The missile's guidance to the target is delivered by an onboard inertial navigation system (INS) supported by global navigation satellite services (GNSS). It has a 10 m circular error probable (CEP) accuracy against time-sensitive targets. The missile has a range between 90 and 430 km.