ASRAAM (Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile), officially designated AIM-132, is a British-developed, high-speed, high-agility infrared-homing short-range air-to-air missile manufactured by MBDA, increasingly integrated across the Indian Air Force’s Tejas, Jaguar and MiG-29UPG fleets as a Western replacement for the older Russian-origin R-73.[1]
ASRAAM is a “fire-and-forget,” all-aspect infrared-guided missile capable of speeds exceeding Mach 3, designed to counter both intermittent target obscuration (such as cloud cover) and sophisticated infrared countermeasures deployed by evading targets. Its high-agility airframe and advanced seeker give it strong performance in close-in dogfight engagements as well as extended within-visual-range envelopes.[1]
Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and MBDA formalised an agreement in 2021 to assemble, integrate and test ASRAAM in India. Following the operational lessons of the 27 February 2019 aerial engagement with Pakistan, India accelerated evaluation of Western short-range missile options, leading to ASRAAM’s integration first on the Tejas and Jaguar fleets, and its subsequent extension to the MiG-29UPG fleet, progressively displacing the older R-73 across multiple IAF fighter types. The Jaguar fleet’s ASRAAM integration has been paired with the broader DARIN-III avionics upgrade.[2][3]
| Type | High-agility, infrared-guided short-range air-to-air missile |
| Manufacturer | MBDA (UK), assembled/integrated in India with BDL |
| Designation | AIM-132 |
| Max speed | Mach 3+ |
| Guidance | Fire-and-forget, all-aspect infrared homing |
| India integration agreement | BDL–MBDA, 2021 |
| IAF platforms | Tejas Mk1A, Jaguar (with DARIN-III), MiG-29UPG |
| Replacing | R-73 (Russian-origin short-range AAM) |