Faster than BrahMos: Here's what we know about Israel's 'Golden Horizon' missile reportedly offered to India

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel from Wednesday, reports have emerged that Tel Aviv has offered to supply its Golden Horizon ballistic missiles to New Delhi.

During the visit, Modi is scheduled to address the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

However, the proposal of the missile being acquired by India has not been confirmed by either side.

Till date there are two known Israeli air launched ballistic missiles (ALBMs), including the Rampage and Air LORA. According to media reports, these missiles are already sold to India.

What is the Golden Horizon ballistic missile?

The Golden Horizon is an ALBM, but not much has been officially revealed about the weapon.

Leaked United States intel documents revealed in October 2024 -- just before Israel attacked Iran -- that the country was working with two systems – hitherto unknown Golden Horizon and Rocks.

According to several media reports, the Golden Horizon has an estimated range between 1,500 km and 2,000 km. However, some open source defence sites claim it's range when launched from a fighter jet is about 800 km.

On the other hand, Rocks, Rampage and Air LORA have ranges of about 175 miles (282 km).

Israel's Blue Sparrow has a range of about 2,000 km The Sparrow missiles were made to threaten Iraqi Scud and Iranian Shahab ground-launched missiles for testing Israel’s Arrow interceptor missiles.

It is being reported that the Golden Horizon is derived from the Sparrow series of missiles.

The original Silver Sparrow is 8.3 meters long and has a pre-launch weight of 3,100 kilogrammes.

How can Golden Horizon bolster India's defence capacity?

If the offer is true and India buys the missile, it could be customised for integration with India's Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jets.

Ballistic missiles are normally launched on fixed trajectories and are hard to intercept by air defence networks.

Air-launched ballistic missiles are carried by fighter jets or bombers, which avoids risk to known ground launch sites. Air missiles also have an advantage of striking with extreme speed.

Ballistic missiles from aircraft are rare as they usually are launch cruise missiles.

Such ballistic missiles are possessed by only a handful of countries, such as Russia, China and Israel.

According to a defence open source website, the Golden Horizon is claimed to destroy deeply buried and heavily reinforced structures, such as subterranean command bunkers or shielded nuclear facilities.

The missiles, once launched from an aircraft, have a high ballistic trajectory, flying in near-space altitudes before striking.

During this terminal phase, the missile reaches hypersonic speeds, reported to be over Mach 5.

India's flagship BrahMos missile has a speed of Mach 2.8, nearly three times the speed of sound.

If the deal goes through, it would be a massive boost to the Air Force capabilities.