In April, Indian Army sent out a Request for Information (RFI) for procurement for 150 Canister Launched Anti-Armour Loiter Munitions (CALM) Systems for mechanised infantry. The RFI has been released to help “finalise Staff Qualitative Requirements (SQR), decide procurement category and identify probable Indian vendors who are capable to commence supply of CALM System within one year of Award of Contract / Supply Order.”

 The procurement of the CALM will follow the “provisions of Chapter-II of DAP-2020.” This system is envisaged to be used on the western border and the northern borders. The system is planned to be used at an altitude of upto 5000 m which means it will be fielded in Northern Ladakh region.

The CALM is expected to operate within the temperature ranges of -15 to 45 degree Celsius across the terrains.

Talking about the operational role, the RFI states that the CALM will be used for beyond line-of-sight real time surveillance of targets throughout day and night. It will also engage enemy Armoured Fighting Vehicles and other ground based weapon platforms / positions over extended ranges.

“The CALM System should be modular in design, thereby lending itself to future upgrades through simple modifications and to facilitate subsequent development. Should be capable to be launched and operated from in-service Carrier Mortar Tracked (CMT),” the RFI said.

According to the Army’s desired specifications, the loitering ammunition along with the canister should not exceed 25 kg. The munition is expected to have an operational range of 15 km within which it’s should be able to track an armoured vehicles at an speed of 35 kmph. These monitions should be capable of penetrating Rolled Homogenous Armour of 500mm thickness in top-attack mode and with circular error of probability of one meter in top-attack mode.

The munition should have battery back of up to two hours.

The CALM would be used to engage with enemies by mechnised infantry to clear any armour threats in its area of operations.

PIC-By Fars Media Corporation, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72431460