Replying here with regard to something I referenced in the QUAD thread, specifically:
"...Any further tests that seek to validate new technologies (such as a Multi-Kill Vehicle rumored to be in development by DRDO) can be done so using Point-In-Space testing..."
The original post is available here:
Yeah I'm aware of this, what about the MKI ? Any plan to install AESA radar ? @Nilgiri indigenous scaled up UTTAM AESA radar?
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The first evidence of a MKV (now also called Multi-Object Kill Vehicle or MOKV) being under development by Indian agencies came with a presentation made by the then-chairman of DRDO, Dr. VK Saraswat at the IIT-Bombay university back in 2014, so it was public release.
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MKV/MOKVs are basically like MIRVs but for objects that are outside the atmosphere. They are thoroughly dual-use in terms of having applications against both satellites & incoming ballistic missile threats, just as any ASAT weapon is also a BMD weapon.
Following are images of Lockheed Martin & Raytheon's developments of MOKVs, primarily for the Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) program:
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The XSV-1 aka PDV Mk-2 tested by India is roughly in the same ballpark as the GBI as far as size/weight is concerned, nice artwork by Maxima Vigilantia comparing the sizes:
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(reason why PDV-KKV is so big is because the 2nd stage motor is integral to the assembly, plus the DACS thrusters are probably less efficient compared to the American models, requiring more liquid fuel storage).
* KKV = Kinetic Kill Vehicle
EKV = Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle
Both basically the same thing, different names
Why do I read this much into some obscure presentation made over 7 years ago?
Because this was also the first time that an ASAT development was publicly hinted at, and that turned out to be an undeniable reality 5 years later (2019):
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...of course a lot has changed with regard to the configuration of the ASAT missile since then, for example we switched to a K4 SLBM-based boost stage instead of one derived from the old Agni-II.
The prospective images of future land-based & submarine-based deterrence (Agni-6 and K5 SLBM) posted in the thread before were also from the same presentation.
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