Indian defense sector thread

[G_B_]

For all the defense sector updates regarding the Indian armed forces and surrounding neighbors.

[panther]

Can we post non Indian defence stuff here?

[veer]

^no

[Clarke]

Can we post non Indian defence stuff here?

You can create your own thread.

[G_B_]

Can we post non Indian defence stuff here?

fine by me BAE cuts M&M ties

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130210/jsp/business/story_16544218.jsp#.UTs3fNZ3aAY In the coming years i hope to see TATA, Mahindra and L and T take their first steps to supply the Indian conventional forces. Leave DRDO to the missiles and nuke heads.

[G_B_]

Indian Navy To Be Without Carrier Until December

NEW DELHI India will be without an operational aircraft carrier at least until December as it awaits the delayed delivery of the Russian-made carrier Admiral Gorshkov, and the NavyÃÔ sole carrier, INS Viraat, is still undergoing refit. Viraat is doing trials after a refit at the state-owned Cochin Shipyard, after which the carrier will be docked at the naval dockyard for repairs to propulsion, boilers and air conditioning systems. Indian Navy sources say the Viraat refit could take another year. The refit aims to put Viraat into operation for another three to four years by which time the Gorshkov, renamed by India as the Vikramaditya, and the state-owned Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, would be in operation. The Vikramaditya is expected to be commissioned by December and has been launched for sea trials, said an Indian Navy official. Meanwhile, China has also decided to add three aircraft carriers by 2016. While one of the carriers, Varyag, was announced by China last year, Beijing is also refitting two aircraft carriers bought from Russia six years back. Delivery of the Russian carrier was delayed from December 2012 because of propulsion problems during sea trials last year. The Indian Navy had to pay nearly $1.7 billion more than the price contracted in 2005, with the cost now nearly $2.3 billion. The originally scheduled delivery date was in 2008. The Indian Navy has bought 16 MiG 29K aircraft from Russia to be flown from the carrier, and a contract for the purchase of Kamov helicopters is also being finalized.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130308/DEFREG03/303080014/Indian-Navy-Without-Carrier-Until-December?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

[G_B_]

India developing ÁÇorce multiplier Agni-VI missile

Having successfully test-fired Agni-V, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is now developing Agni-VI ballistic missile. Agni-VI, which will be capable of engaging several targets with one missile carrying multiple warheads including nuclear and conventional payloads, is now in the advanced phase of design and will have longer range than Agni-V which can hit a target at 5,500 km. Disclosing this here on Friday during the ongoing five-day international air exhibition Aero India, DRDO chief VK Saraswat said the new missile will act as a force multiplier but refrained from mentioning about its range. Ţgni-V is major strategic defence weapon. Now we want to make Agni-VI which would be a force multiplier, he said adding that the missile will have Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) capability which would enable delivery of many payloads at the same time using only one missile. Ÿork is on in this area and designs have been completed. We are now in the hardware realisation phase, he said. Scientists are also developing a cruise missile defence programme which would enable the armed forces to defend against low-flying cruise missiles and enemy aircraft and anti-radiation missile for IAF. This missile will provide cover to the aircraft from radar radiation and likely to be ready for induction in the next four years, Saraswat said. As for the air version of Brahmos supersonic cruise missile capable of hitting a target at 290 km, Sivathanu Pillai, chief of Brahmos project said the first integration test of the missile with SU-30 fighter jet will take place in June. Having validated flight dynamics of the missile when married to an aircraft, the first and crucial live firing test will be conducted in December, he said adding both these tests will take place in India on two modified SU-30s. He said some structural modifications were carried out in the missile like reducing its weight from three tons to two, more powerful booster and airframe of the weapon. Pillai said since the missile is mounted on an aircraft which is already flying at great speed, the navigation system of the missile was modified and its weight cut down adding this project, a joint venture between India and Russia, will cost 50 million dollars. The missile is expected to be fully operational and ready for induction into the IAF by 2015, he said. His engineers will also carry out the first test of the underwater version of the Brahmos next month somewhere off the east coast. This missile when finally ready for induction will be mounted on a submarine.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/126519-india-developing-force-multiplier-agni-vi-missile.html

[ShanS]

Cruise Missile Nirbhay's maiden launch tomorrow.

Country’s first subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay (Fearless) is all set to be tested for its full range of 1,000 km on Tuesday from Chandipur, Odisha. BrahMos is the country’s supersonic cruise missile. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) technologists said on Sunday preparations were in full swing for the launch of the two-stage surface-to-surface missile that uses a turbo-jet engine. The Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a DRDO facility in Bangalore, has designed Nirbhay — a derivative of pilotless target aircraft Lakshya. The Research Centre, Imarat, Hyderabad, has developed Nirbhay’s crucial avionics while other DRDO laboratories have played their part in developing it. Nirbhay, which looks like an aircraft, can drop bombs. It can be remotely controlled and brought back. In this mission, there are no plans to recover it or use it to drop bombs.

Read the full article at http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/nirbhays-maiden-launch-tomorrow/article4495655.ece.

[surajmal]

Interesting setup. Wonder how they will recover the main body (parachutes?). The Lakshya drone (minus the surveillance capability) probably has a couple of common modules with this missile. Edit: :facepalm: I should read the article. Commonality is mentioned. Edit: Basically is a Tomahawk block 3/4 with recoverable body and lesser range.

[ShanS]

Wonder whether this missile has dual mode... i.e. it can be used as a UCAV and also like a regular Tomahawk-ish cruise missile. If it is, then in direct CM mode, I would assume that it will have a greater range than 1000KM.

[G_B_]

nirbhay marks an important step for india's offensive abilities.

[G_B_]

Once development is completed Nirbhay will become part of IndiaÃÔ nuclear triad and an important complement in the countryÃÔ nuclear retaliatory capability, establishing viable ÁÔecond strike through submarine-launched K-15 ballistic missiles and Nirbhay cruise missiles. A conventional armed variant will also improve the naval strike capability beyond the range of the current BrahMos. As a cruise missile, Nirbhay can fly autonomously or under remote control. The weapon is launched from road mobile launcher, using a booster for acceleration. After the booster separates, the turbo-jet engine kicks in, powering the missile for the cruises phase. Nirbhay will fly at an altitude of 500 1000 metres at a speed of 0.67 Mach. It is equipped with autopilot maintaining constant altitude from the ground, thus enabling the missile to avoid detection by flying ÁÖnder the radar? ADE is also referring to the missile as a ÁÍoitering weapon? as it can fly around te target until instructed to attack. However, it has not been disclosed whether the missile is equipped with sensors to obtain images to provide the intelligence for such attack. Other attributes mentioned in the past were multiple warheads, although it is not clear if each weapon will have multiple attack capability or the family of weapons will offer a choice (for example, conventional, anti-ship or nuclear.) India plans to field two versions of Nirbhay the nuclear armed cruise missile, to be carried by up to 20 specially modified Su-30MKI fighters. The booster-equipped naval version will deploy with the three Arihant class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). Carry a warhead weighing 250 kg this variant will be capable of striking targets at a range of 1,200 km, utilizing a hybrid Ring Laser Gyro/Global Positioning Navigation (RLG/GPS). Cruising at a speed of 0.7 Mach and using terrain following navigation the missile is designed to maintain a 10 meters height above water or 30 meters above land. A conventionally armed variant carrying a warhead of 450kg, will have a range of 750km. It will deploy with Jaguar strike fighters and Rafale MMRCA and used for land and naval surface attack applications. Using the same hybrid RLG/GPS navigation the missile will offer combined attack accuracy of about 20 meter CEP, which could be further improved using radar-based terminal-guidance. Most of the avionics used for the Nirbhay program are derivatives of avionic modules developed for the BrahMos missile.

http://defense-update.com/20130311_india-sets-for-first-nirbhay-cruise-missile-test.html

[surajmal]

Wonder whether this missile has dual mode... i.e. it can be used as a UCAV and also like a regular Tomahawk-ish cruise missile. If it is' date=' then in direct CM mode, I would assume that it will have a greater range than 1000KM.[/quote'] I think the article is a case of ignorant reporting rearing its ugly head again. It probably is a pretty similar to Tomahawk block 3 (TLAM) i.e. ability to change course midflight as well as drop munitions. See this 19XXTArAGaM The UCAV mode that you are alluding to sounds very similar to IAI Harop but there is no recovery of the main body.

[ShanS]

India's cruise missile Nirbhay's maiden test flight 'Partially Successful'.

India's trial of its first cruise missile Nirbhay had to be terminated halfway today, when the missile deviated from its course after launch. The missile had to be blown up. The test failed but the Defence Research and Development Organisation or DRDO, which developed the missile, has said mission not unsuccessful. "The Nirbhay cruise missile launch was a mixed success. The lift-off was successful but the flight had to be terminated halfway. We have not been able to achieve complete range capability, but the mission objectives have been met," it said in a statement. The DRDO is still examining the flight details. The cruise missile was fired from the Chandipur test range in Odisha at 11 am. The Nirbhay (which means fearless) is highly manoeuvrable, can fly at tree-top level making it very difficult to detect on radar, and it strikes targets more than 700 km away carrying nuclear warheads, giving India the capability to strike deep into enemy territory. India has had the capability to make ballistic missiles for some time now and has made tactical missiles of different capacity. Developing a cruise missile was the one thing remained and DRDO scientists had been working hard on the Nirbhay. The missile is India's answer to America's Tomahawk and Pakistan's Babur. It is a sub-sonic cruise missile and gives India the capacity to launch different kinds of payloads at different ranges from various platforms at a very low cost. The US had deployed cruise missiles effectively during the Gulf War. Unlike other ballistic missiles like the Agni, Nirbhay has a wing and pronounced tail fins. It launches like a missile and in early flight the small wings get deployed. It then flies like an aeroplane and can even hover near the target, striking at will from any direction. The missile has a fire-and-forget system that cannot be jammed and can be launched from a mobile launcher. "This is a sub-sonic cruise missile, which means it is basically an aircraft converted into a cruise missile. An aircraft has wings and this also has wings. We keep it folded, it lifts off like a missile using a rocket motor, and after the rocket motor finishes its job, it falls down and then the wings get deployed and the gas turbine engine gets kicked in and it becomes like a full aircraft," explained P S Krishnan, Director, Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/launch-of-cruise-missile-nirbhay-a-mixed-success-after-flight-terminated-mid-way-341380?pfrom=home-lateststories So the missile started to veer of after first 20mins of normal flight. Might be a case of hydraulics/control bug. Hopefully, this should be a minor issue which would be sorted out quickly. Check out the video. That thing looks really robust.

[G_B_]

dude partial successful is another word for failure. I personally think it is a control bug and i agree it should be sorted out quickly. India should not be afraid of calling a failure a failure. Most nations in the world fail in new ventures.

[ShanS]

The whole mission is failure but at least it flew normally for the first 20mins of it's flight. It could've been worse like breaking up mid-flight which would have been a very serious problem as that would mean something's wrong with the design of the missile. Totally agreed. I just hope that people don't start to whinge that "DRDO is a failure", "All taxpayer's money going down the drain", "Oh look, Pakistan has a CM but our CM fails" and things like that. This failure is a stepping stone. DRDO will learn from it as they had with Agni-3 and next time it'll be successful.

[G_B_]

The whole mission is failure but at least it flew normally for the first 20mins of it's flight. It could've been worse like breaking up mid-flight which would have been a very serious problem as that would mean something's wrong with the design of the missile. Totally agreed. I just hope that people don't start to whinge that "DRDO is a failure", "All taxpayer's money going down the drain", "Oh look, Pakistan has a CM but our CM fails" and things like that. This failure is a stepping stone. DRDO will learn from it as they had with Agni-3 and next time it'll be successful.

+1 I have many reservations about DRDO but IMO for the budget they are given they are doing a decent job.

[ShanS]

More info..

In a setback to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans, the maiden flight of long-range subsonic cruise missile, Nirbhay (Fearless) had to be terminated within 20 minutes of its launch after it deviated from the path. A top DRDO official told The Hindu from Chandipur that the flight had to be terminated to ensure "coastal safety". The missile was launched from a road mobile launcher around 11.45 am from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the Odisha coast. After flying for more than 15 minutes as per the envisaged path, it deviated and veered towards the coast forcing DRDO scientists to abort the flight. The two-stage, low-altitude missile was flying at a height of 4.5 km when the mission was aborted. DRDO planned to test the missile for its full range of 1,000 km and established make-shift stations along the East Coast to track the missile during its flight. Soon after the missile took off, the booster engine kick-started and the first stage was separated and missile cruised ahead at 0.7 Mach. Avinash Chander Chief Controller (Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO, however, said that all the mission objectives were met. He said the cruise capability of the system was established for about 30 per cent of the envisaged range when the missile deviated from its trajectory and drifted. All the parameters till that time were exactly as planned. "All the aspects of cruise vehicle were tested and verified. That is a major achievement", he added. He said the reasons for deviation were being analysed and it might take a couple of months before the next flight was launched. The missile has "loitering capability" and could fly from an altitude of 500 meters to 10 km. It could go over and around the hills and would be difficult to detect.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nirbhay-missile-flight-terminated-after-it-deviates-from-path/article4500527.ece

[G_B_]

I wonder they have plans to put a miniature nuke in Nirbhay. Atleast that was the plan with Brahmos. Still i think the problem is relatively small as the article above suggests. Should be fixed no issue.

[surajmal]

Part of the process; onwards and upwards etc etc found a NDTV video XV1qcv52H6Y