Decoding LCH Prachand's stand-off capability | Present - 7 km & Future 20-30 km

No Match of LCH’s high altitude performance

Present stand-off capability of Prachand

At present the LCH has stand-off range of 4-6 kilometers. This range is provided by the FZ275 LGR - Laser Guided Rocket weapon system by Thales. These are 70mm rockets having range between 1.5 km to 7 km with CEP of 1 m at 6 km range. For guidance it uses SAL i.e., Semi-active laser. The LCH is already integrated with a laser designator which enables it to guide the Laser guided rockets by Thales.

The total mass of the rocket is 12.7kg with warhead of 4.1 kg. The warhead can penetrate 6 mm steel and has lethal radius of 9m. The targets against which these rockets are effective are soft & light armoured vehicles, air defence facilities, radar sites, communication equipment & soft bunkers. The rocket has both day and night firing capability. LCH carry max. 4 rocket launchers – two on each side. Each pod can carry 12 rockets. In total LCH can carry 48 rockets.

20-30 KM stand-off weapon integration

Recently the ex-CAS RK Singh Bhaduria in an interview with Sansad TV told that the work is in progress on LCH to integrate new class of weapon having the stand-off range of 20-30 KM. This range is no joke and its massive. It will give Indian infantry complete dominance of battle filed on the ground. This huge stand-off range will also keep Prachand far from the reach of MANPADS & point air defence systems. The longer-range air defence system will not be able to detect Prachand due to its low flight characteristics.

Which is this mysterious 25-20 km range stand-off weapon?

But then the question is that which is this mysterious 25-20 km range stand-off weapon?

Recently we have made a video on “What is missing in LCH Prachand?”. In the video we have explained that the Helina ATGM whose air force version is called Dhruvastra is planned to be integrated with LCH. The integration of the ATGM has been fast tracked and is expected by mid of 2023. However, the missile has range between 500 metres to seven km only, however the Air Chief Marshal RK Singh Bhaduria has said the weapon will have stand-off range of 20-30 km.

Option 1: Spike NLOS

This is hinting towards only two possible missile integration which is either in progress or planned. The first one could be Spike NLOS. The reason why I am counting on this missile is because the Mi-17V5 of Indian Air force is already being upgraded to fire Spike NLOS missile. It is a 4th generation multi-purpose electro optical missile with real time wireless data link. The electro optical sensor of Spike NLOS has day and night sensors which enables it to operate in all weather, day & night conditions. The missile follows lofted trajectory for top attack where the tanks are most vulnerable. The missile has a reported range of 25kms. The missile can also be fired from Indian Air force Apache attack helicopters. Therefore, it does make sense to integrate the missile with LCH as well. In the year 2020, the US Army announced its intention to procure Spike NLOS missiles to be mounted on Apache helicopters. A test was conducted in March 2021 where an AH-64E fired a Spike NLOS at a target 32 km away and scored a direct hit.

Option 2: SANT

The second missile could be indigenously developed SANT or Standoff Anti-tank Guided Missile. It is a fourth generation upgraded variant of HELINA developed for long distance airborne anti-armour role. It is equipped with electro-optical thermal imager (EO/IR) and a new nose-mounted millimetre wave active radar homing (MMW) seeker with an extended range of up to 15 km to 20 km. The missile has Lock-on after launch and Lock-on before launch capabilities. The most recent test of the missile was conducted by DRDO and Indian Air Force from Pokhran ranges on December 11, 2021.

SPIKE NLOS or SANT – either of them is going to give huge stand-off capability to LCH. At present its not clear which missile is being integrated. However, we can expect the details to be revealed soon as ATGM integration is planned to be integrated with LCH by 2023.

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Music: Eternal Garden - Dan Henig

[zerog]

Instead of missiles, drones might be another option with cruise and dive attack mode, it might be slow to reach target but give better range easily. Good against tanks, trucks and maybe not much against trench infantry and SAM sites. The LCH could team up rudra as hunter killer, let rudra carry kamikaze drones and shoot from behind.

[ayush]

LCH Prachand still doesn't have an on-board self protection suite comprising RWR, LWR and MAWs. DRDO had promised an indigenous version of IDAS but it's nowhere to be seen.

[moyukhdas]

SANT looks more probable as we are going local.

[snehalsuryawanshi]

This is great for our mountain frontlines, a low flying peach and using terrain cover can launch these stand-off missiles from safety and mostly from anywhere. Something like NAMICA may take hours or even days to get in any kind of position.

[datoolz]

FZ275 LGR - Laser Guided Rocket weapon system by Thales on Prachand. Hope DRDO will eventually produce an indigenous laser guided missile. If a rocket has guidance,
it is by definition a missile, so that "laser guided rocket" is an oxymoron.48 rockets is a lot of firepower, but it would be nice if it had satellite and inertial guidance to
fall back on. Laser guidance suffers from dust and smoke.

Those LGR also have a long minimum distance, of 1.5km. If it can be reduced to 500m, it would make the missile much more useful.
Helina ATGM -range between 500 metres to seven km only.That is awesome, if the indigenous clone laser guided missiles with Navic guidance
and inertial gyro on board is technically feasible with that smaller minimum range.

The absurd travesty of the indigenous Prachand having no weapons on board has finally ended. All that is left is the integration of an electronic
warfare suite to protect against manpads like Stinger. ‘Rudra’ comes with Saab’s Integrated Defensive Aids Suite. Still nothing on Prachand to defend
against manpads, and no air to air mistral to protect against drones, enemy helicopters and fighter planes Useful against tanks and armored vehicles
already, but still needs work.

[alexmcaruthur]

LCH got a name Prachand nice 👍 what does Prachand mean?

[sudarshanadiga]

UK s mbda s brimstone missile good for lch

[positiveandoptimisticvive]

Sir, yeh angle of attack hota kya hai, inh meh se kiska angel of attack acha hai.? tejas, jf17, fa50

[anirudhrajath]

whenever HAL makes something it makes it the best

[utkarshupadhyay]

Spike nlos 6th generation missile is already developed by Rafael systems having range of 50 km I hope this missile can also be integrated with prachand 😊😊

[knight]

Why is the Manpad being developed a tripod based system, it might cause problems for the souldiers to carry it and use it

[babuvishwass]

Majority of Components of LCH is imported which is not good. I hope we will Integrate Indiagenous EW Suite and Engines on Prachand in coming years. We should acquire Spike NLOS ATGM in limited numbers for LCH until our Indigenous Long Range ATGM is ready for Production.

[harshsrivastava]

If prachand can launch cats alfa then it is going to rain havoc to enemies armoured vehicles ❤

[comedycentury]

No anti tank weapons with old technology can't export...