India Indian Cruise Missile Programs

SHOX

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MOD NOTE:

Indian Cruise missiles such as:

- Brahmos* (original, NG, ER etc) (supersonic)
- Nirbhay (subsonic)
- Any new and upcoming programs (ALCM, SLCM, LFRJ etc)

and their underlying RnD and all subsequent developments to be gathered, discussed and archived here.

*Hypersonic category CM's such as Brahmos II are to be preferably archived in the Scramjet Thread given their relative frontier novelty:


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BrahMos Says Got Permission From Russia, India to Export Missiles to Third Countries

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BrahMos Aerospace, a joint Russian-Indian developer of the BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missiles, said on Monday it got greenlighted by the governments of Russia and India to export the missile to third countries.

"A lot of countries have shown great interest in [purchasing the missiles of] BrahMos. We are now working with our Russian colleagues.

We have already received [export] permits from Russia and the Indian government, and we really hope that as soon as the pandemic is over, we will be able to act on it," BrahMos Chief General Manager Praveen Pathak said on the sidelines of the Russian-hosted Army 2020 forum.

BrahMos Aerospace was established in 1998 as a joint venture of Russian rocket and missile developer NPO Mashinostroyeniya and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation.

 
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SHOX

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Tests of several modifications of the Russian-Indian BrahMos cruise missiles with extended range are planned for 2020, Tactical Missiles Corporation (TMC) JSC CEO Boris Obnosov told TASS Monday.

"Tests of BrahMos modifications with increased range planned for this year," he said at the Army-2020 international military forum.

Earlier this summer, BrahMos’s air-based modification (BrahMos-A) was successfully certified in India, Obnosov noted.


"Quite recently, on June 10, the air-based supersonic cruise missile obtained its first permission for use, provided by India’s CEMILAC certification agency. All specifications for the Indian Air Force have been confirmed. The BrahMos has become the first Indian aviation missile to obtain this permission," the TMC CEO said.

According to Obnosov, the BrahMos-A air-based cruise missile will significantly increase capabilities of the Indian Air Force.

"The BrahMos’s launch range to the target is 300 km, while Su-30MKI jet fighter’s range with air refueling is over 3,000 km - together, this provided [Indian] Air Force with a huge advantage in their actions in the Indian Ocean zone," Obnosov noted.

The CEO highly praised the work of the Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace joint venture. "This rapidly developing joint venture is one of the best examples of military-technical cooperation," he underscored.

 

Nilgiri

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Archive for BrahMos and other cruise missiles being developed and deployed in Indian Military.
 

Gautam

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Alright then here is an upcoming cruise missile :

Liquid Fuel Ramjet Technology project stated a decade back to develop the engine tech in house to be used in a variety of applications in the future. Targeted range, speed etc are given below:
1599502439449.png


After many years of silence on the project in 2018 it was announced that a test bed has been set up for engine testing. A prototype of the LFRJ engine has been made and is being tested there. From DRDO 2018 Annual report :

1599503261708.png


In late 2020 the schematic of the upcoming missile has become public. All dimensions are in mm :
1599502457633.png


As previously stated, the engine will be used in many applications and its likely that these different applications will require some airframe modifications in each case. We don't know what type of missile the schematic above is for. But we can guess. I think the missile shown here is a Supersonic TARget (STAR) or a LACM/AShM, meant to be launched from a ground or naval platform. It just needs a solid rocket booster at the end to get the missile to supersonic speeds.

I say that because of that single guide rail running right through the lower end of the missile, 20mm in width. That is probably to assist with the smooth and safe ejection from the cannister/VLS. This is especially necessary if the cannister is larger than the missile and there is a lot of gap between the missile body and cannister walls.
 

Gautam

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More clarity on the Nirbhay missile deployment :

India moves terrain-hugging Nirbhay missiles with 1,000-km range to defend LAC

The Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile will be inducted into the army and navy after the seventh trial next month

Updated: Oct 01, 2020; 06:36 IST
By Shishir Gupta
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
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Photo: Nirbhay long-range, sub-sonic cruise missile in flight.

India will formally induct the Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile into the Indian Army and Navy after the seventh trial scheduled next month but has already moved a limited number of the missiles to the Line of Actual Control where Indian soldiers are locked in a tense standoff with China’s PLA.


The 1,000 km range missile has a single shot kill ratio of more than 90 per cent. It has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), people familiar with the development told Hindustan Times hours after India test-fired an extended-range BrahMos surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile that can hit targets 400 km away.

The Defence Acquisition Council headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh has cleared the formal induction of the Nirbhay subsonic missile. The military, however, did not wait for the formality to deploy the new missile and has already moved some of them to defend the LAC against China.

The missile, which travels at a speed of 0.7 Mach, has both terrain-hugging and sea-skimming capability that helps it avoid detection and counter-measures.


At the LAC, the PLA’s western theatre command has deployed stand-off weapons up to 2,000 km range and long-range surface-to-air missiles in Tibet and Xinjiang after the Ladakh stand-off started in May this year. The Chinese deployment is not limited to occupied Aksai Chin but is located in depth positions from Kashgar, Hotan, Lhasa and Nyingchi along the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Officials said Wednesday’s testing of the 400-km range BrahMos missiles with an indigenous airframe and booster is significant since it clears the decks for India to have the next class of supersonic long-range tactical cruise missile. The Brahmos has a liquid-fuelled ramjet capable of ranges over 500 km.

These new-age weapons will be based on solid-fuelled ducted ramjet (SFDR) technology that can be used for air-to-air missiles as well as long-range supersonic cruise missiles. The technology has been tested by the DRDO twice - on 30 May 2018, and 8 February 2019.

“The new class of cruise missile will have a solid rocket booster along with supersonic speed using SFDR technology. The range of missiles can be decided on the basis of mission objectives,” said an Indian missile expert.

It is understood that the new class of cruise missiles (yet to be named) will have a better circular error of probability than the BrahMos with a heavy conventional warhead to target airbases and ships of the adversary.



So there is an SFDR based cruise missile coming up. Or did they confuse SFDR with LFRJ ?

SFDR was tested twice :
1st test :
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2nd test:
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By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 1st Sept 2020




Indo-Russian joint venture (JV) firm, Brahmos Aerospace on Wednesday successfully tested an extended range version of the BrahMos cruise missile. While the existing version of the missile has a maximum range of 290 kilometres, the BrahMos fired today struck a target more than 400 km away.



Since the JV was founded in 1998 to develop, manufacture and market the BrahMos cruise missile, India and Russia have adhered to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which prohibits the transfer of missiles, or missile technology, with ranges beyond 300 km to non-member states. However, with India having become a MTCR member-country in 2016, New Delhi is less stringently bound by technology transfer rules.



Even so, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said nothing about breaching the 300-km range barrier, while Tweeting his acknowledgement “for the successful flight testing of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with indigenous booster and air frame [to the] designated range.”



The BrahMos is regarded as one of the world’s premier cruise missiles, with its supersonic speed of 2.8 Mach (almost 3,000 kmph) making it extremely difficult for enemy fighters to intercept and shoot down. Conventional cruise missiles, such as the US military’s Tomahawk, travel at about 890 kmph, a low speed at which supersonic fighters can overtake them.



While the current test was restricted to 400 km, it is a signal that the BrahMos could be built for far longer ranges in the future, limited only by its fuel carriage.



In any conflict with China, the unmanned BrahMos could be advantageously used in the opening stages for pinpoint strikes on heavily defended targets – such as air bases, headquarters, key roads and railways or logistics dumps – which are too dangerous for manned fighter aircraft to attack.



Through incremental improvement and progressive testing, the BrahMos has become a key element of the Indian military’s strike power. It is employed by all three services, and launched from all four dimensions: from ground launchers, aircraft, surface warships and submarines.



The army operates four BrahMos regiments, including missiles programmed for “steep dive” attacks. These skim over high mountain ridgelines before diving steeply onto their target on the valley floor.



Such capabilities do not come cheap. Each BrahMos regiment, which is a fully mobile entity with a command post, four missile-launcher vehicles and several missile carriers to carry its complement of 90 missiles, costs around Rs 2000 crore.



The army is on track to buy two more BrahMos regiments. With the range of the BrahMos now being extended, it is likely that the 5th and 6th BrahMos regiments would be equipped with the longer-range missiles.



Defence industry analysts say that each BrahMos missile costs around Rs 15 crore, about the same as the cost of a Tomahawk. At that price, partner countries such as Vietnam, to which New Delhi and Moscow have agreed to offer the BrahMos, are unable to afford it.



The Indian Air Force (IAF) is also committed to the BrahMos, having based a full Sukhoi-30MKI squadron, equipped with the BrahMos air-launched cruise missile (ALCM), at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. From this peninsular base, the long-range Sukhoi fighters can strike targets in three directions – the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the northern Indian Ocean.



The integration of the Sukhoi-30MKI with the BrahMos allows the IAF to strike targets up to 3,000 km away. In an exercise in May 2019, Sukhoi-30s attacked a target 3,000 km away, refuelling on their way out and a second time on their way back to Thanjavur.



The Navy has also adopted the BrahMos as its standard ship-launched cruise missile (SLCM). All the navy’s frigates and destroyers are now being built to carry the BrahMos in vertical-launch canisters – eight missiles in each frigate and 16 in each destroyer. BrahMos is already carried by the indigenous Project 15B destroyers, and are being integrated into the Talwar-class frigates being built in Russia.



BrahMos Aerospace has also offered its missile for fitment into the navy’s next six submarines that are proposed to be built under Project 75-I. In March 2013, a BrahMos was fired from an underwater pontoon, validating it as a submarine launched cruise missile.



BrahMos Aerospace was incorporated through an Indo-Russian Inter-Government Agreement (IGA), and is named after India’s Brahmaputra and Russia’s Moskva rivers. It is 50.5 per cent owned by India and 49.5 per cent by Russia, the MoD had told Parliament on May 9, 2007.



According to the MoD, the share capital of BrahMos Aerospace was $250 million initially. This was increased by $50 million to cover the cost of developing the air-launched version of the missile.



New Delhi’s contribution of a little over $150 million includes Rs 634 crore contributed by the military and Rs 370 crore contributed by the Defence R&D Organisation.
 

Gautam

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Old but awesome photo. Brahmos ALCM separation from the central hardpoint of the Su-30MKI. Look at the size of that clamp.
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Gautam

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Footage of the recent test. The eventual targeted range of Brahmos is 800km + :


Brahmos's nose cap :
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Gautam

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The previous validated tests turbofan was Russian?
Turbojet not turbofan. It was a NPO Saturn 36MT.

The new engine is a bit more powerful and its a turbofan. The Guidance & Navigation Control (GNC) had to adjust to the new engine. This added with the fact that we were going to try out the sea-skimming feature meant increased work load on the on-board computer(OBC).

We tested the sea-skimming on the previous test. Here is the video :


I guess the schedule is being somewhat rushed as if this is engine problem, as it would have been picked up in testing
The engine used on the missile apparently wasn't ground tested first. This is just a poor safety procedure. I reckon the GNC could adjust to the new engine until 8 mins of flight. Then we entered the sea skimming mode. Here you have to adjust flight altitude and direction based on inputs from the seeker, else you will crash on the ground.

The workload was probably too much for the OBC and the missile went off track. Then the mission controller pushed the kill switch and that was the end.

The Nirbhay project is supposed to be a TD. The missile was never meant to enter service, the tech developed from this project will go on the the ITCM project. The ITCM was supposed be a Nirbhay like missile with longer operational range. Nirbhay can hit at a range of 1000km. That's what was so confusing about the Nirbhay being deployed. The TD is being pushed to emergency service.

We will know more soon I guess. The NOTAM issued is valid till tomorrow. If its a software glitch, maybe they can fix it and have another test tomorrow. I wouldn't say this normally, but DRDO appears to be in a testing overdrive these days. We can hope, can't we ?
 

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DRDO Aborts 800km Nirbhay Cruise Missile Test after Launch​


DRDO Aborts 800km Nirbhay Cruise Missile Test after Launch

Nirbhay cruise missile

India’s state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) aborted 800km-range Nirbhay cruise missile minutes after its launch on Monday.

“The missile was fired at 10.30 am from the (Odisha) testing facility. But the missile developed a snag and the trial was aborted 8 minutes later,” a government official was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

The subsonic missile fired from Odisha’s test facility. Nirbhay was the 10th missile to be fired by the DRDO during the last 35 days.
Some Nirbhay missiles were earlier moved to the border with China. Mondy’s tests were conducted as part of an effort by the DRDO to expedite development of missiles along the LAC amid the stand-off with China at multiple points in East Ladakh.

“Scientists needed to analyse the data generated during the tests to figure the tweaks that may be needed to be carried out,” officials said.
India is said to be working on an Anti-Ship Missile and Air-Launched Cruise Missile.

Powered by a solid rocket motor booster developed by the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), the Nirbhay has an operational range of 1000 km.
Nirbhay missile can travel with a turbofan or turbojet engine and is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system indigenously developed by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI).

The two-stage missile is 6 metre long, 0.52 metre wide with a wing span of 2.7 metre. It can carry a warhead of 200 kg to 300 kg at a speed of 0.6 to 0.7 Mach. Its launch weight is about 1500 kg.

 

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India on Sunday successfully test fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the indigenously-built stealth destroyer INS Chennai, with the weapon hitting a pre-designated target in the Arabian Sea, the defence ministry said in a statement.

The 290-km range missile --- an Indo-Russian joint venture --- has land, air and naval variants.

“The missile hit the target with pin-point accuracy after performing high-level and extremely complex manoeuvres. BrahMos as prime strike weapon will ensure the warship’s invincibility by engaging naval surface targets at long ranges, thus making the destroyer another lethal platform of Indian Navy,” it said.

The missile has a top speed of Mach 2.8 --- nearly three times the speed of sound.

More at link
 

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@Gautam @Rajaraja Chola @Milspec @Paro @Zapper @Joe Shearer et al, interested if you have any comments...


Some salient points:

Existing missiles can be upgraded (range extension).

Air launched version range also to be increased.

Seeker (RF) indigenisation underway and to be ready soon. Seeker (optical) to start soon.

Plans to increase current model to near Mach 5.

Brahmos II - to be hypersonic, to use DRDO scramjet

Brahmos NG underway, same range as current, smaller size/weight, can be deployed on more platforms.

Submarine launched Brahmos - if navy shows interest, ready to go

Export plans/policy - MEA/PMO matter
 

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