Indian Navy’s Biggest Weakness (2025)

Suppose you are a technician, and you generally need to service devices that have 5 different types of screws. You essentially need to carry 5 screw drivers. You need these 5 drivers for every job. Recently, your company did a total revamp of its fastners and is using 5 entirely new screw formats. If you were working out of a service shop, these tools would be nicely kept inside a tools chest, available to access at all times. But suppose you are a travelling technician, now you need to lug around these 5+5 drivers and all the other things you need everywhere. You think, why do I need 10 different fixed shaft screw drivers, let me find a screw driver that can have its shafts swapped and use that. Hence we see people use replaceable shaft screw drivers, so they dont have to lug around all the different types of unique drivers. But the shafts themselves are made out of metal, and all you need is basically the tip. So you can use a single multi-bit screw driver and carry all kinds of bits you need.

How is this relevant for the Indian Navy?

You are now wondering, are screw drivers Indian Navy’s biggest weakness? Not really, but the issue is somewhat similar and is associated with missiles. Indian Navy’s premier destroyers and frigates of Vishakhapatnam and Nilgiri classes currently carry 2 different types of missiles that is the BrahMos anti-ship/land attack missile and the Barak 8 MRSAM. In the future, we could see atleast 2 more i.e. LRLACM / Nirbhay family and the VL-SRSAM. Remember the different screw drivers for different screws problem earlier, the Indian Navy uses two totally not compatabile Vertical Launch Systems for these missiles. VL-SRSAM has its own VLS on Rajput class DDG, but it is unique as well. Any VL-SRSAMs added to the new destroyers would thus require an entirely new VLS module, and it cannot use the existing cells.

What is the world doing?

The world has been busy developing Universal Vertical Launch Systems or UVLS. The US Navy has a system called the Mark 41 VLS, it is a system of systems that ties into onboard sensors and works with the Aegis weapons suite, and helps the suite launch a variety of missiles from the same cell. It is essentially a multi-bit screw driver, while the Indian navy uses the fixed shaft screw drivers, unique for each operation. How does it work you ask? The Mark 41 VLS cell is a standardized cross section plus other things which all current and future missiles are designed to fit. Though there are three standardized lengths, think about it as Mk 41, Mk 41 Pro and Mk 41 Pro Max. The lengths allow corvettes which dont have as deep a hull to just get the shortner one, while a destroyer or cruiser can get the longest one with the most capability.

1. Mk 41 Base : Commonly known as Mk 41 Self Defense Length, it can fit Enhanced Sea Sparrow Missile or ESSM, and it can quad pack it, basically a single cell can carry 4 missiles.
2. Mk 41 Pro: Commonly known as Mk 41 Tactical Length, it can fit SM series of SAMs which provide BMD plus regular SAM capabilities plus all of the above.
3. Mk 41 Pro Max: Commonly known as Mk 41 Strike Length, it can fit the massive Tomahawk cruise missile and all of the above.

The thing is, except the length, everything else is standard between the modules, and they can launch any hot fired missile from it. The Chinese have also developed a UVLS called GJB 5860-2006 standard seen on their Type 052D (contemporary of the Kolkata and Vishakhapatnam class DDG) and the Type 055 (contemporary of the Arleigh Burke class). These currently only use the HQ-9, a copy / derivative of the Soviet naval S300 missile and the YJ-18, a copy / derivative of the Soviet Kalibr anti-ship missile. There is an alleged ship launched ballistic missile that was tested from it, and there are rumors that they are developing a multi-pack MRSAM like the ESSM. The Chinese also have 3 alleged lengths, we have seen the medium and long cells on the Type 052D, medium length cells launch the HQ-9 while the longer ones launch the YJ-18. Interestingly, the YJ-18 is a hot launched missile, while the HQ-9 is cold launched. Hence the Chinese use a sleeve in the cell to create space for exhaust fumes to escape without harming the missile.

Real World Examples

Suppose the Indian Navy just commissioned a Vishakhapatnam class DDG with a new Indian UVLS system and we have a regular Vishakhapatnam DDG. Regular DDG carries 32 Barak 8 and 16 BrahMos for a total of 48 missiles. The UVLS version has 48 UVLS cells which can either fit a single Barak 8 or a single BrahMos. India has a variety of other weapons, which I am going to make UVLS compatible through magic. The weapons I want are.

1. SMART
2. LRLACM
3. Multi-pack VLSRSAM lets say 4 per cell.

Scenario 1

Indian Navy wants to task a ship for intimate carrier escort. By intimate carrier escort, I mean the escort that sails very close to the carrier and is the supposed last line of defense. It also serves as a quick rescue ship for air ops from the carrier’s deck. In this mission, the escort doesnt need BrahMos as much, but could use a lot of SAMs. The UVLS DDG comes to port, swaps out 8 BrahMos for 4 more Barak 8s and 4 cells of multi-pack VL-SRSAM i.e. 16. This DDG now has 40 Barak 8, 16 VL-SRSAM and 8 BrahMos. This replenishment can be done pretty quickly and should take hours and days but not more than 1 or 2 days depending on availability of weapons at the base. The regular current specification DDG, will need months of refit to cut up deck space, add the 2x VL-SRSAM modules for 16 additional missiles.

Scenario 2

The Indian Navy is about to carry out a pre-emptive strike against an enemy aiming to capture its Indian ocean outpost. The navy quickly calls in the UVLS DDG to change its missile load. They remove 12 BrahMos out of 16 and add 12 LRLACM. The aim is to launch LRLACM to provide mass to the attack and confuse plus expend SAMs at the target and BrahMos will provide the knockout punch. Like above, it shouldnt take as long to swap missiles.

Currently, the land based launcher for the LRLACM is different from land based BrahMos launcher, and hence again it will take months to cut up deck space and add the VLS for LRLACM.

Scenario 3

The Indian Navy is deployed for aggressive anti-sub patrols with P-8I and MH-60R dropping sonobuoys to locate a rogue submarine. The UVLS ship can simply come into the port, swap out 8 BrahMos for 8 SMART and sail away. The non-UVLS ship can only rely on its torpedoes and RBU-6000s to hunt for submarines except needing long refit to add VLS for it.

The gist is, a non-UVLS ship needs to spend months in the docks to change its missile complement as it needs massive amounts of work to add the cells for that missile. UVLS equipped ships can come to port, fill up fuel, swap out contents of the cells and sail away. Heck, western navies are trying at sea replenishment of cells to remove this need. Basically UVLS equipped ships can meet a refueller at sea, get its cells swapped out using specilist cranes on the refueller and carry on without going to a port. The non-UVLS ship is stuck with what it was commissioned with, or needs extensive refits for the new missiles.

The actual problem

The problem isnt actually with the Indian Navy, the unique VLS modules are a problem caused by India’s currently disjointed small missile development programs. While larger missiles use boosters and launchers from other programs, the same cannot be said about small missiles, even the ones developed in India from scratch. Lets go over the list of missiles.

BrahMos

The BrahMos uses this 12×12 launcher for land launches, it uses the locally developed UVLM and angled launchers for ship based usage. Second batch of Talwar class frigates were the first to feature the UVLM commissioned in 2012. BrahMos is cold launch, and uses cold gases generated in the cell to eject the missile from the cell. Then the missile ignites its own engines to fly towards the target. Why wasnt this UVLM used as a standard for all missiles going forward seems lost to me. The launcher was developed in India and isnt Russian origin.

Barak 8

Barak 8 uses its own launcher, obviously developed with Israel means there is little chance of the Israelis allowing the Indians to use VLS modules for a Indo-Russian cruise missile. Here is what the Barak 8 VLS looks like. Barak 8 is a hot launched missile, which means it launches from the cell using its own engine, thus needing a central heat trench to exhaust fumes. My irritation levels rise sharply with the next missiles.

VL-SRSAM

This missile is derived from the Astra BVRAAM, developed locally in India. It is launched from a unique module of its own, which is also under going some design changes. The VLS previously looked like Barak 8, but is now a bespoke design. Why is it a bespoke design? Why cant they use the Barak 8 VLS or the UVLM? The missile and everything is Indian and yet they decided to develop a bespoke VLS for it. The new flip flame trench cap makes the VLS hard to multi-pack as two modules cannot be place alongside each other by their shorter side. If they are placed that way, they cannot launch missiles together from half the cells next to each other. VL-SRSAM missile is 3.9 m long, 0.178 m wide at the fuselage and 0.5 m with the wings. BrahMos is 8.4 m long and 0.6 m diameter. With a wing folding mechanism, they can easily quad pack VL-SRSAM in the UVLM with cold launch, eliminating the need for a bespoke VLS. If you let imaginations run wild, you can actually pack 8 missiles in two levels of 4 each because the VL-SRSAM is less than half the length of BrahMos. Why isnt this the solution from Day 1?

LRLACM

The LRLACM or atleast Nirbhay is 6 m long and 0.52 m diameter. It is smaller than BrahMos in all dimensions, and hence can easily fit in the land based launcher, angled launcher and UVLM. But the Indians use a bespoke land based launcher for it, and currently I dont know if there is a project to modify it for surface-ship launch it. LRLACM is hot launched, and uses an open cannister land based launcher, why not use BrahMos from Day 1? They could easily mask launcher or mix and match loads on the same land based launcher to provide mass of attack at cheap cost since BrahMos is costlier. This missile is totally Indian and they chose to develop a different VLS while they had BrahMos.

The end game is an Indian Typhon and an Indian Mark 41 VLS system which can deploy all of India’s tactical missiles. Now you ask what is Typhon, it is a land based development of Mark 41 VLS cut into half, i.e. 4 cells instead of 8, but is road mobile. It can deploy SM series and the Tomahawk in the same cell footprint, basically a single 4 cell road mobile launcher can have 2 cells each of both for mixed capability or all 4 for dedicated strike or defense. This system allows the US to basically park the trailer on a helicopter deck of an LCS and give it top of the line strike and defense capabilities with no modifications. The Indians on the other hand chose separate launchers for BrahMos, VL-SRSAM and LRLACM meaning they need three launchers to deploy all three. Indian typhon could theoretically launch all 3 while using the footprint of a single launcher.