Earlier this week, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy successfully test-launched a salvo of short-range anti-ship missiles from a helicopter off the Odisha coast. These indigenously developed missiles, called the Naval Anti-Ship Missile Short Range (NASM-SR), are meant to be deployed from ship-borne helicopters. During the test on Wednesday (April 29), two such missiles were launched in quick succession from the same chopper, marking the platform’s first successful salvo test. While the Navy already has helicopter-launched missiles, the NASM-SR offers a potential upgrade over them. They also have two unique features —”man-in-loop” and “waterline hit”. What are these two features? Why does a salvo launch matter? And, more importantly, why are helicopter-launched missiles important for the Navy? We explain.…