Platform profile · India · Modular precision-guided stand-off air-to-ground weapon · Indian Air Force
AASM HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range)
SignedBEL and Safran signed the HAMMER Joint Venture Agreement and Master Production Agreement on 2026-02-17, subject to regulatory and administrative approvals.
On 17 February 2026, BEL and Safran signed a Joint Venture Agreement and Master Production Agreement to establish Indian production of HAMMER, subject to regulatory and administrative approvals. The planned 50:50 company follows a November 2025 cooperation agreement and is intended to localise manufacture, supply and maintenance, with indigenisation progressively rising to 60 percent. India officially credited Rafale aircraft, SCALP missiles and HAMMER bombs in the 23-minute opening air mission of Operation Sindoor on 7 May 2025. Specialist press reported an emergency IAF contract for Rafale in July 2020, while Indian media reported a further emergency order for a few hundred weapons for Tejas in November 2021; the opened sources did not provide official contract values or delivery schedules. HAMMER's modular guidance, low-altitude launch envelope and more-than-70-km stand-off reach give India a flexible precision-strike weapon while planned local production reduces import dependence.
Updated 17 Feb 2026
Verified figures
Specifications
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Weapon class | All-weather smart air-to-surface weapon with extended stand-off capacity ↗ |
| Range | More than 70 km ↗ |
| Qualified guidance kits | 3 ↗ |
| Guidance options | INS/GPS; INS/GPS/IR; INS/GPS/laser ↗ |
| Compatible bomb bodies | 125 kg, 250 kg, 500 kg and 1,000 kg ↗ |
| Engagement mode | Fire-and-forget ↗ |
| Navigation and jamming resilience | Insensitive to GNSS-denied environments; autonomous and insensitive to jamming ↗ |
| Attack capacity | Simultaneous multi-target attack ↗ |
| Launch envelope | Can be launched at low altitude over rough terrain ↗ |
| Platforms named for planned Indian production | Rafale and LCA Tejas ↗ |
| Planned Indian production | Phased localisation with indigenisation progressively up to 60 percent; BEL to lead final assembly, testing and quality assurance ↗ |
Spec sources: safran-group.com ↗ · pib.gov.in ↗
Changelog
Program timeline
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BEL and Safran signed a Joint Venture Agreement and Master Production Agreement in Bengaluru to establish phased HAMMER production in India; operationalisation remained subject to Indian and French approvals.
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BEL's board approved signing the 50:50 Project HAMMER joint-venture agreement with Safran; operationalisation remained subject to Indian and French regulatory and administrative approvals.
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IAF-released Republic Day footage publicly showed HAMMER stand-off bombs carried by an Indian Rafale.
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BEL and Safran signed a Joint Venture Cooperation Agreement in New Delhi for a planned 50:50 company to localise HAMMER manufacture, supply and maintenance, with indigenisation progressively up to 60 percent.
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An official Indian account credited Rafale aircraft, SCALP missiles and HAMMER bombs in the 23-minute opening air mission of Operation Sindoor.
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BEL and Safran signed an MoU during Aero India expressing intent to establish an Indian HAMMER joint venture; the November 2025 official release later confirmed this milestone.
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Indian media reported an emergency-procurement order for a few hundred HAMMER weapons for LCA Tejas; no official quantity or contract value was identified in the opened sources.
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Specialist press reported that the IAF exercised emergency procurement powers to contract HAMMER for incoming Rafales, noting that the weapon was already fully certified on Rafale.
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