With the signature of the long-awaited contract for Indian AF Rafale fighters now apparentlly imminent, India’s OIS Advanced Technology (OIS-AT) and Sagem (Safran) of France have signed an MoU to create a joint venture to manufacture Sagem's AASM Hammer bomb guidance and glide kit in India. With this, Sagem has declared OIS-AT as the Indian manufacturer for this weapon system.

The combat-proven AASM Hammer — originally designed and manufactured by Sagem for French Air Force and Navy Rafales — will be customized to meet the Indian Air Force's high-precision munition requirements.

With modern combat moving to high-precision weaponry, it has become necessary for traditional blast fragmentation munitions, and the more modern penetration munitions, to be guided with high precision to their targets from standoff ranges. The AASM Hammer is an extremely high-precision guidance and range extension kit which is attached to aerial-launched munitions to meet the targeting needs of modern warfare.

OIS-AT, a broad-based technology company, is India's largest private sector radar house with a portfolio of advanced ground-based and airborne radar systems.