Canister Launched Anti-Armour Loiter Ammunition

About the Ammunition system-

• Loiter munitions are a mix of a surface-to-surface missile and a drone. 
• The CALM System is a pre-loaded canister with loiter ammunition or a drone which once fired can remain aloft for a period of time over the area of operation, and when a target is sighted it can be guided down to destroy the target with the explosive payload that it carries. 
• If a mission is aborted or there are no suitable targets, loiter munitions can be recovered. 
• They are smaller, cheaper and less complex systems than combat or armed drones.
• Loitering munitions fit in the niche between cruise missiles and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), sharing characteristics with both. 
• They differ from cruise missiles in that they are designed to loiter for a relatively long time around the target area, and from UCAVs in that a loitering munition is intended to be expended in an attack and has a built-in warhead.
• Usually, they carry a camera which is nose-mounted and which can be used by the operator to see the area of operation and choose targets. 
• They also have variants which can be recovered and reused in case they are not used for any strike.
• They can be used on enemy tanks and other targets in the plains and deserts of Western India as well as on high altitude areas (heights up to 5,000 meters) in the Northern borders in Ladakh.
• It will be employed by the Mechanized Infantry units of the Army for surveillance of beyond line of sight targets by day and night in real time and beyond visual range engagement of enemy armored fighting vehicles and other ground based weapon platforms over extended ranges.
• The Army has specified that it intends to procure 150 such systems which will be launched from the BMP Infantry Fighting vehicles of the Mechanized Infantry which are especially modified for this purpose. 

Its usage by other countries-

• The CALM System had been very effectively used in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in 2021 where the Azerbaijan forces made extensive use of Israeli systems to wreak havoc on Armenian tanks, radar systems, communication hubs and other military targets. 
• The Russian military is also using their ZALA KYB loiter ammunition in Ukraine while some reports say that the US has also provided Ukraine with its Switchblade loiter munitions that could target Russian armour 10 km away.