India Missile Defence and Anti-Satellite Programs

[Gautam]

MOD NOTE: All developments related to the Indian BMD and ASAT program to be compiled here.


@Nilgiri write a thread a few days back. Don't know if you have seen it :

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1310451721404141570

 

[Nilgiri]

@Nilgiri write a thread a few days back. Don't know if you have seen it :

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1310451721404141570

Should we open a seperate BMD thread? Or I relabel this as general missile thread?

 

[Gautam]

Should we open a seperate BMD thread? Or I relabel this as general missile thread?

Re-label this thread. There isn't enough posts for a separate one yet.

 

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1376505404394414088

 

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1379652333357912064

 

[Nilgiri]

IAI’s Barak-ER Performs Successful Ballistic missile Intercept

IAI’s Barak-ER Performs Successful Ballistic missile Intercept By Tamir Eshel - Apr 19, 2021 Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) today unveiled details of the comprehensive trials series of the Barak-ER system, tested against a range of scenarios and threats, culminated with the intercept of a...

defencehub.live

 

[Nilgiri]

I was actually referring to land-based Barak 8 ER for the east as we need it in the Himalayas to counter the Chinese agression

It make sense (once IOC completed) to acquire since Barak ecosystem at large will be modular concept and India has committed to it at scale...so it has the supporting infra already engaged and experience building up etc.

Specific strengths/weaknesses relative to system cost etc will be compared with akash-NG, AAD ecosystem etc as to where their best deployment profiles will be....or if say land Barak-ER will be part of BMD program below/augment AAD....past a sole ER SAM role.

It is one of sectors overall that India will have a better situation of relative plenty+optimisation going forward.

 

[crixus]

IAI’s Barak-ER Performs Successful Ballistic missile Intercept​

IAI’s Barak-ER Performs Successful Ballistic missile Intercept - Defense Update:

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) today unveiled details of the comprehensive trials series of Barak-ER system, tested against a range of scenarios and threats, culminated with the intercept of a ballistic missile target by the BARAK ER (Extended Range) interceptor. BARAK-ER provides wide-area...

defense-update.com

@Nilgiri @Philip the Arab

 

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1386264587960467456

 

[Gessler]

2nd stage solid motor of the XSV-1 ASAT missile:

 

[fire starter]

Satellite Constellation Design Studies
for Missile Early Warning

 

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1552954945313222656

 

[fire starter]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1587760832410107904

 

[fire starter]

 

[Rajendra Chola]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1587760832410107904

@Nilgiri this one deserves a separate thread for sometime don’t you think? This also probably means BMD Phase 1 is complete. And budget is funded from PMO directly I think similar to Nuke sub projects

 

[Gessler]

India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Wednesday successfully conducted the maiden flight test of phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor AD-1 missile with a large kill altitude bracket off the Odisha coast. All components of the BMD weapon system that were spread out across a variety of locations participated in the flight test.

"AD-1 is a long-range interceptor missile designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long-range ballistic missiles and aircraft. It is propelled by a two-stage solid motor and equipped with the indigenously developed advanced control system, navigation and guidance algorithm to precisely guide the vehicle to the target," a DRDO official said.

During the flight test, all the sub-systems performed as per expectation and this was validated by the data captured by a number of range sensors including radar, telemetry and electro-optical tracking stations deployed to capture the flight data.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO and other teams associated with the successful flight trial of AD-1 and said it is a unique type of interceptor with advanced technologies that are available to very few nations in the world. He said it will further strengthen India's BMD capability to the next level.

Chairman DRDO Samir V Kamat also congratulated his team on the successful trial of AD-1 and said this interceptor will provide great operational flexibility to the users and has the capability to engage many different types of targets.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1587760832410107904

After the Kargil War in 1999, India's BMD program was launched with Pakistan's expanding missile arsenal in mind. China also contributed significantly to Pakistan's missile program. The goal of India's Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) program is to provide an air defense shield against all kinds of hostile missiles, including nuclear ones.All of these assets, which were developed by India's foremost defense research organization DRDO, are currently in use by the Indian Air Force.

India carries out maiden test of phase II ballistic interceptor AD-1 missile

The flight test was carried out with the participation of all BMD weapon system elements located at different geographical locations

www.livemint.com

 

[Gessler]

I would describe the AD-1 as roughly equivalent to the Aster-30 Block-1NT/Block-2 and SM-6. It would form the lower rung of the BMD Phase-II program with regard to range & altitude, and will primarily be aimed at intercepting missile threats inside the atmosphere. The higher rung would be formed by the AD-2, which is still in development and is in the league of SM-3 with theatre-level BMD capabilities i.e. interceptions outside the atmosphere.

The two systems (along with supporting next-gen radars) form Phase-2 BMD and will see both land & ship-based use. The vessel INS Anvesh is already outfitted to carry out tests of theses BMD missiles in combination with new radars & combat management systems. If you recall, Phase-I was a technology demonstration phase under which several ABM platforms like AAD, PAD & PDV together with their support systems were developed & tested over the last decade. Phase-II represents the development of fully operationalized capabilities based on the lessons learnt from Phase-I tech demo.

The BMD-II is an indication of further progress in the following fields:

• High Energy Solid Propellents
• Next gen Divert & Attitude Control System (DACS)
• Next gen Imaging Infrared (IIR) and Ku-band RF seekers

Older iterations of these technologies were already demonstrated on the XSV-1 ASAT missile, but as is visually apparent, the BMD Phase-II requires much more miniaturization & precision in these departments due to nature of the threats its supposed to defeat + nature of the mobile platforms that its supposed to be installed on.

 

[Afif]

Aster block 2 can would be able to intercept 3000km class of BM.

And SM-3 is not just theatre level interceptor. Block IIA can intercept settelite and icbm.

 

[Gessler]

Aster block 2 can would be able to intercept 3000km class of BM.

You're right - Block-2 is more in league of SM-3 and AD-2 as well. AD-1 is only comparable to Block-1NT or SM-6.

And SM-3 is not just theatre level interceptor. Block IIA can intercept settelite and icbm.

Depends. If the launch platform (ship) happens to be in the right spot, SM-3 can take out any missile in the boost/ascent phase (including ICBM), but so can any other missile of similar capability. The true ICBM-class ABMs are those capable of midcourse interceptions at altitudes of between 500-2000 kms or more. Only stuff like GBI can do that and obviously those are the size of ICBMs themselves & too big to be put on ships.

ASAT application is a given for any ABM system capable of an altitude that allows for exo-atmospheric interceptions. The limiting factor is what kind of satellite you're after. Earth Observation types are usually found at between 250-500 kms altitude and are well within the reach of the likes of SM-3, Aster-30 Block-2, AD-2 or even the PDV.

 

[Afif]

You're right - Block-2 is more in league of SM-3 and AD-2 as well. AD-1 is only comparable to Block-1NT or SM-6.



Depends. If the launch platform (ship) happens to be in the right spot, SM-3 can take out any missile in the boost/ascent phase (including ICBM), but so can any other missile of similar capability. The true ICBM-class ABMs are those capable of midcourse interceptions at altitudes of between 500-2000 kms or more. Only stuff like GBI can do that and obviously those are the size of ICBMs themselves & too big to be put on ships.

Remember, block IIA has flight ceiling of 1000km.

i am gonna say this is a 'late midcourse' interception.

Right now only thing has similar capability to SM 3 is arrow 3.
And yes, GBI is a class of its own.

can you explain doctrinal logic behind upcoming AD 2 type capability ? because it seems to me, at the time it will become operational, HGVs will take over the role of MRBMs.