Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has unveiled a new air-launched ‘deep stand-off’ variant of its Long-Range Artillery (LORA) precision strike tactical missile called the Air LORA, the company announced on 6 June 2024.
Already test-launched from an F-16 fighter, the Air LORA is a long-range air-to-ground missile (AGM) developed for strike missions against high-value and well-protected targets such as command centres, air force bases, infrastructure, and naval vessels in dense littoral environments, according to IAI.
“With a robust warhead of various types, Air LORA enables air forces to strike enemy targets from far distances outside the reach of [enemy air defences],” IAI stated in a press release. “It features high survivability with advanced immune INS/GNSS navigation and strong anti-jamming capabilities, allowing for 24/7 operation in extreme weather conditions and highly contested battlefields.”
IAI states that the Air LORA “can be simply integrated into airborne platforms as a stand-alone configuration or through the avionics system” and is easy to operate, “with simple fire-and-forget and autonomous operation”.
The Air LORA, according to IAI, “has a very high mission success rate mainly due to its supersonic speed and its combat-proven GNSS anti-jamming system”, as well as terminal trajectory shaping and a 90° attack angle.
Jacob Galifat, general manager of IAI’s MLM Division, was quoted by the company as stating, “We are very excited to introduce the Air LORA, which opens new frontiers and capabilities for our customers and improves the attack and defence capabilities for countries, with minimal risk to pilots and platforms. Air LORA offers air forces the ability to surprise the enemy [deep in its territory] with massive and GNSS anti-jam-protected accurate strike capabilities.”
