What is ‘ROCKS’, India’s first air-launched quasi-ballistic missile

• Recently, the Indian Air Force (IAF) quietly test fired a quasi-ballistic missile - ROCKS from the Su-30 MKI.
• It marked a significant increase in India’s ability to target deep inside enemy territory without even crossing its own air space.

Key highlights

• The missile, a next generation extended stand-off air-to-surface missile
  • Has been designed and manufactured by Israeli defence major Rafael Advanced Defense Systems keeping India’s needs in mind.
• The missile is a spin-off from the Sparrow series of air launched ballistic missile targets using capabilities of its Spice series of missiles.
• With several components used in the missile being sourced from India, the IAF is looking at placing a larger order under the Atmanirbhar initiative
• The IAF wants the missiles to be manufactured in India.
• Quasi ballistic means that the missile does not fire and perform like a regular air-to-ground weapon system.
• The pilot of the aircraft can choose the trajectory of the missile to be horizontal or even vertical.
• It is designed to strike high-value stationary and relocatable targets above ground, or underground, and heavily fortified targets with pinpoint accuracy in GPS-denied arenas.
• Due to the ballistic nature of its flight, its high velocity during the terminal stages of flight would greatly help it penetrate deeper into a target.
• Incidentally, the missile was used by the Israeli military to target a S-300 battery of Iran last week.
• Operating autonomously, and launched at an extended stand-off range well outside the areas of heavily-defended surface-to-air threats
  • ROCKS incorporates technologies inherited from the legacy Popeye and SPICE air-to-surface weapons.

Prelims Takeaway:

• Ballistic missile
• ROCKS