France's HAMMER missile to be made in India. Details here

Indian Government firm Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and French Government-backed firm Safran Electronics and Defence (SED) have signed a Joint Venture Cooperation Agreement (JVCA) for the production of Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range (HAMMER) Smart Precision Guided Air-to-Ground Weapon in India. The JVCA was inked by CMD, BEL Shri Manoj Jain and Executive Vice President, SED Mr Alexandre Ziegler in the presence of Secretary (Defence Production) Shri Sanjeev Kumar & CEO Safran Mr Olivier Andries in New Delhi on Monday (Nov 24).

HAMMER is a French-origin medium-range air-to-surface weapon that is used against ground targets such as bunkers, hardened shelters. With a range of over 70 km, the system enables fighter aircraft to release the weapon from a relatively safe distance from enemy air defence systems. Autonomous and insensitive to jamming, this weapon system can be launched from low altitude, over rough terrain.

HAMMER can be integrated with bombs of varying sizes- 125kg, 250kg, 500kg and 1000kg. The HAMMER is a weapon that is in use on the Rafale aircraft, and it is meant to be used with India's indigenous Tejas jets as well.

This latest agreement takes forward the MoU signed between BEL and SED on February 11, 2025, during the Indian Government's defence-aerospace show Aero India in Bengaluru. It reaffirms the willingness of both sides to incorporate a potential Joint Venture Company (JVC) in India. The JVC shall be formed as a private limited company with 50-50 shareholding.

According to the firms, the BEL-SED JV will localise the manufacturing, supply and maintenance of HAMMER to meet the operational needs of the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy. The indigenisation level will progressively increase up to 60 per cent with key sub-assemblies, electronics and mechanical parts being manufactured locally. The transfer of production will happen in a phased manner, with BEL leading final assembly, testing and quality assurance, it was formally announced.

WION had reported about multiple aspects of Indo-French defence cooperation during Aero India, which includes the RBE2 Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar for the Rafale fighter jet, the Aravalli engines meant to power the 13-ton Medium Lift-class, Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) and the Deck-Based Multi-Role Helicopter (DBMRH), both being designed & developed by HAL, and the HAMMER smart weapon.

In addition to the 36 French-origin Dassault Rafale aircraft that India purchased for its Air Force, India has also placed orders for 24 Rafale-Marine(Rafale-M) jets for operating from the Indian Navy's aircraft carriers.