New Delhi: India and the UK are near signing an Inter-Governmental Settlement (IGA) for the procurement of British Light-weight Multirole Missiles (LMMs) for the Indian Military’s tactical models.
Whereas the 2 nations had, in October final 12 months, introduced the signing of an MoU for a £350 million ($468 million) government-to-government deal for the missile—also called the Martlet, named after a legendary fowl that by no means roosts—British officers stated the numbers have gone up considerably since then. The announcement had come throughout Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s go to to the UK final 12 months.
Because the identify suggests, the missile, manufactured by Thales UK, may be fired by an infantry soldier, or built-in with an armoured car, helicopter and naval ships.
The British Military has built-in the missile with its helicopter models and a few naval platforms. It’s designed for an city surroundings, and Thales manufactures it at its Northern Eire facility.
For the Military, it might take out threats starting from mild armoured, wheeled and tracked autos, to aerial platforms inside a distance of 6 km.
LMM, which is predicated on laser beam steerage, is offered on shoulder launch, tripod and car configuration. Weighing a mere 13 kg, the missile has a velocity of 1.5 Mach, and has been in service with British army since 2019. It has additionally been deployed by Ukrainian forces within the ongoing struggle towards Russia.
The Martlet is comparatively small and cheap, in comparison with many typical air-defence interceptors, which makes it engaging for coping with proliferation of Shahed-type one-way assault drones and different UAVs, the place utilizing costly long-range missiles towards each goal creates an unfavourable price equation.
The UK itself has more and more shifted its Martlet procurement in direction of the counter-Unmanned Aerial Methods (C-UAS) mission. In June this 12 months, it positioned one other £36 million order for LMMs, particularly highlighting their use towards aerial threats.
British officers didn’t get into particular numbers, however stated that the Indian order will run into a number of lots of—the quantity having gone up considerably, in comparison with October.
They added that an IGA is anticipated to be signed quickly, and with that India will turn into the second largest buyer of the missile after Ukraine.
In 2025, the UK had introduced a £1.6 billion deal of greater than 5,000 LMMs for Ukraine. Ukraine’s Defence Ministry had subsequently stated the association would supply 5,350 LMMs, together with RapidRanger launchers over 5 years.
One other 1,000 missiles have been added on this 12 months, taking the publicly introduced UK dedication past the 6,000-mark.
The UK and India had, in February 2025, agreed to broaden collaboration on next-generation weapons with Thales and Bharat Dynamics Restricted (BDL) signing a contract to ship Laser Beam Driving MANPADs (LBRM), with an preliminary provide of Excessive Velocity Missiles (STARStreak) and launchers delivered final 12 months.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
Additionally Learn: Modi govt opens up conventional missile production to private players. Astra & Pralay up for grabs
