Nirbhay Cruise Missile Development

[Armand2REP]

Saya sir I guess in DFI many have predicted that Nirbhay will have lot of technologies derived from Lakshya

I guess they will share same engine too, what you say

How can Nirbhay share a French target engine?

The original indigenous PTAE 7 engine proved underpowered, leading to selection of the Microturbo TRI 60-5 as a replacement for most Lakshyas produced to date.

ADE Lakshya (India) - Jane's Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Targets

 

[Shaitan]

that is basic design, Pakistani got the missile when USA raided OBL, Pakistani got the missile and got it reverse from China. It is proven design so why waster time and go for new design.

NEW DELHI: Looking to add more lethal firepower to its arsenal, India is planning to test fire its latest 1000-km range sub-sonic land attack cruise missile 'Nirbhay' early next year.

Nirbhay will be a terrain hugging, stealthy missile capable of delivering multiple warheads as per mission requirements.

"We are looking to test-fire the new sub-sonic cruise missile in the first quarter of 2012. The Nirbhay will be a new state-of-the-art missile," DRDO officials told PTI here.

With its range of 1,000 Km, the missile has longer reach than Pakistan's Hatf-7 Babur missile, which claims to have a range of 700 km.

The missile is being developed by the Advanced Systems Laboratory under the DRDO.

Sources said the missile will be sleeker than other similar weapon systems that are operational with different countries.

The Nirbhay will be India's second cruise missile after the 300 km range BrahMos, which is a supersonic system. The missile can be launched from multiple launchers and will be inducted into all the three services.

India to test fire sub-sonic cruise missile - The Economic Times

When you hear things like it could be sleeker than other missiles in its class. I come to the conclusion the design might be different from the rest.

 

[SPIEZ]

That's could be because making a operational jet engine is one of the toughest tasks in the world. There cannot be any short cuts here, and no one is going to give you the technology. Its all trial and error. A successful engine might come after severe wait, and even failure, like our kaveri. That's the way it has been elsewhere in the world. No exception.

Nineteen countries produce cruise missiles which
are also widely proliferated and many analysts consider cruise missile proliferation
to be of more concern than that of ballistic missile proliferation, primarily due to
their low threshold of use, availability and affordability, and accuracy.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...ZpDQ72&sig=AHIEtbQj-rgnKICo60xg2_xrsPgTLEMYbA

This should clear the air. Why is India taking such a long time with sub sonic technology

 

[Shaitan]

Tomahawk missile

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Any info on Nirbhay UAV development?

 

[Nirvana]

Any info on Nirbhay UAV development?

Wasn't that just stupid reporting by Trishul

we don't have any such UAV under development , the Nirbhay in a way act's as Unmanned target platform and will have Many components similarity with Lakshya Target drone.

 

[nitesh]

How can Nirbhay share a French target engine?

Armand your link says that the contract was signed with Russians

Any way as saya commented it is a different engine as compared to Lakshya

 

[Armand2REP]

Don't get ahead of yourself. How can you make engine for Nirbhay when you can't make engine for a target drone?

 

[nitesh]

Where it has been mentioned that the engine was not there?

 

[Shaitan]

repostasdasd

 

[Shaitan]

Don't get ahead of yourself. How can you make engine for Nirbhay when you can't make engine for a target drone?

The HAL PTAE-7 powers the Lakshya.

 

[Shaitan]

There's also DRDO's Laghu Shakti Turbofan engine

 

[sayareakd]

DRDO Lakshya Unmanned Aerial Vehicle - Airforce Technology

Lakshya is a remotely piloted aerial vehicle designed and built by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a subsidiary of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), for the Indian Armed Forces.
A total of 23 Lakshya units are currently operational with Indian Defence Services.
A reconnaissance version of Lakshya is being built. It will be fitted with electro-optic cameras, digital onboard computers and Satcom datalink to carry out autonomous operations.
An advanced model called Lakshya-2 is also being developed by ADE. The variant can fly at very low altitudes ranging between 15m and 20m for testing guns and missiles.
It will be available in land recoverable and sea recoverable versions.
Lakshya unmanned aerial vehicle design

"An advanced model called Lakshya-2 is also being developed by ADE."
Lakshya is a reclaimable aerial target system designed to train gun and missile crews and air defence pilots in engaging targets.
It was designed to launch either from land or sea through a zero length launcher and be recovered by a dual stage parachute system.
Designed to be reused for 15 missions, the aircraft can spiflicate airborne incoming enemy targets.
Development of the Indian UAV

The development of Lakshya pilotless target aircraft (PTA) was proposed in 1976.
ADE conducted the feasibility study of the PTA to meet the demands of the Indian Armed Forces.
The Indian Ministry of Defence devised an inter service qualitative requirement (ISQR) common to all three forces, including the Indian Air Force (IAF), Indian Navy and Indian Army in January 1977.
The Indian government approved $3.8m to ADE in September 1980 to design and manufacture the Lakshya. It also sanctioned $1m to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in September 1980 to build an indigenous turbojet engine (PTAE-7) for the PTA.
The maiden flight of the Lakshya took place in 1985. Four Lakshya prototypes incorporated with microturbo TRI-60-5 engines were rolled out between December 1985 and July 1986 for flight trials. The first two trials were successful but the remaining two failed.
Of 18 PTA prototypes produced by ADE by June 1994, ten were lost in testing phases during 1985-1990. The development of Lakshya was officially completed in June 1994 at a cost of $4.9m.
The first trial of the PTAE-7 engine was successful in January 2001. ADE piloted the modern version of the Lakshya fitted with PTAE-7 engine from ITR, Chandipur, in May 2002.
The development of an advanced reconnaissance version of Lakshya was officially unveiled in July 2003. Flight trials of the version were held in April 2003.
The maiden flight test of Lakshya-2 took place in December 2010.
Orders and deliveries of Aeronautical Development Establishment's Lakshya

ADE delivered the first six Lakshya units to IAF in 1998. The PTAs entered service in November 2000 at the interim test range (ITR), Chandipur.
The Lakshya was operational with the IAF and Indian Navy by April 2002. A total of 25 Lakshya UAVs were ordered by the Indian Armed Forces in November 2002.
VK Atre, scientific advisor to the Defence Minister, announced in March 2002 that Israel was willing to purchase Lakshya PTA. The flight trials of the aircraft built for Israel were carried out in November 2002.
Features of the aircraft

The Lakshya features a breakable nose cone, air target imitator, infra-red sensor and synthetic aperture radar.
It is equipped with a target towing unit under wing pylons to train crews of anti-aircraft guns and missiles.
A JATO rocket booster weighing 145kg is installed to enable smooth take-off.
Avionics onboard the Lakshya UAV

The avionics suite installed in the Lakshya includes flight control electronics (FCE), electro-mechanical actuators, vertical gyro, acoustic miss distance indicator (AMDI) and CW doppler. The AMDI measures the miss distance of projectiles and assesses performance and proficiency of the artillery crew.
Engines, thrust and power

The Lakshya is powered by a single PTAE-7 turbojet engine rated at 3.7kN of thrust. The engine is designed and manufactured by HAL in Bangalore. It features a four stage transonic axial flow compressor, single stage turbine, an annular flow combustion chamber, digital electronic fuel control system and 16 fuel flow burners.
The length and diameter of the engine are 1.27m and 0.33m respectively. The dry weight is 65kg.
Ground control station

The Lakshya can be controlled from the ground control station (GCS) through pre-programmed hardware and software systems.
"Development of Lakshya pilotless target aircraft (PTA) was proposed in 1976."
The GCS and telemetry station operates the vehicle and aids in real time data acquisition.
Each GCS can operate five drones simultaneously.
It renders mission planning and simulator facilities to plan, validate and execute the vehicle's missions.
The commands can be transmitted from the GCS to the vehicle by telecommand system at UHF or L-band frequency.
Performance and speed

The Lakshya can climb at the rate of 25m/s. The maximum speed of the aircraft is 857km/h. The range and service ceiling are 150km and 9,000m respectively

it appears from the above that earlier the engine was powered by foreign engine but later on PATE-7 engine was powering the PTA. lakshya for reconnaissance version give us clues for loitering capability.

 

[bhramos]

http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabi...testfire-Nirbhay-cruise-missile-in-April.aspx

 

[Shaitan]

It is often remarked that the only thing missing in India's missile portfolio is a subsonic cruise missile akin to the BGM-109G Tomahawk ground launched cruise missile (GLCM) deployed by the Americans in the eighties. Fortunately, 2012 seems to be the year when this is set to change with several reports of DRDO's Nirbhay being shortly unveiled. One report is particularly noteworthy – TS Subramanian's 'Nirbhay likely to be testfired in April' in this Wednesday's The Hindu.



The story talks about the Nirbhay being a two-stage missile with the second stage powered by a turboprop engine. While the first part is simple enough – the two stages are obviously a reference to the solid booster (which is the 'first stage') used by the Nirbhay when it is launched from the ground; it is the second 'salient feature' that bothered me, i.e the part about the Nirbhay being powered by a turboprop engine during the cruise phase.



Cruise missiles in their 80-year history (considering the WW2 Luftwaffe V-I flying bomb as the first true cruise missile) have been powered by pulsejets, ramjets, turbojets and turbofans with the last two being the propulsive configuration of choice for missiles in Nirbhay's category, but never really by turboprops, unless of course you consider the MQ-9 Reaper to be a cruise missile, during a one-way suicide mission!



Assuming that the turboprop reference is not a typo there is one possibility that may be the real source of this reported feature. Certain experimental designs in the past have used propfans (also known as open flux rotor jet engines) to propel cruise missiles. In the last decade there were reports of a variant of the the latest generation of subsonic Russian cruise missiles of the Kh-101/102 family being propelled by a propfan .



Although it was later mentioned that this effort had been cancelled in 2000. Prior to this, the Americans had tried out propfan configurations on a tomahawk-like design under the long-range conventional standoff weapon (LRCSW) program spearheaded by NASA in 1989.



The attractiveness of propfans stems from the fact that they combine a gas turbine engine with propeller technology in a much more efficient way than turboprops do. Propfans thereby approximate the speed performance of turbofans while exhibiting fuel economy better than that of turboprops. A propfan powered Nirbhay therefore ties in well with the missile's loiter capability emphasized in the report.



Thus there is a possibility that the turboprop propulsive unit reported by The Hindu may actually be a misunderstood reference to a propfan engine. And if it is indeed a turboprop engine akin to an aircraft's that the Nirbhay possesses, then the missile in all probability will turn out to be very different from what it has been imagined by observers to be thus far. Either way, we'll find out soon enough.

Propfan engine for DRDO's Nirbhay cruise missile?

^^Propfan for a cruise missile?

 

[Apollyon]

Propfan engine for DRDO's Nirbhay cruise missile?


It is often remarked that the only thing missing in India's missile portfolio is a subsonic cruise missile akin to the BGM-109G Tomahawk ground launched cruise missile (GLCM) deployed by the Americans in the eighties. Fortunately, 2012 seems to be the year when this is set to change with several reports of DRDO's Nirbhay being shortly unveiled. One report is particularly noteworthy - TS Subramanian's 'Nirbhay likely to be testfired in April' in this Wednesday's The Hindu.

The story talks about the Nirbhay being a two-stage missile with the second stage powered by a turboprop engine. While the first part is simple enough - the two stages are obviously a reference to the solid booster (which is the 'first stage') used by the Nirbhay when it is launched from the ground; it is the second 'salient feature' that bothered me, i.e the part about the Nirbhay being powered by a turboprop engine during the cruise phase.

Cruise missiles in their 80-year history (considering the WW2 Luftwaffe V-I flying bomb as the first true cruise missile) have been powered by pulsejets, ramjets, turbojets and turbofans with the last two being the propulsive configuration of choice for missiles in Nirbhay's category, but never really by turboprops, unless of course you consider the MQ-9 Reaper to be a cruise missile, during a one-way suicide mission!

Assuming that the turboprop reference is not a typo there is one possibility that may be the real source of this reported feature. Certain experimental designs in the past have used propfans (also known as open flux rotor jet engines) to propel cruise missiles. In the last decade there were reports of a variant of the the latest generation of subsonic Russian cruise missiles of the Kh-101/102 family being propelled by a propfan .

Although it was later mentioned that this effort had been cancelled in 2000. Prior to this, the Americans had tried out propfan configurations on a tomahawk-like design under the long-range conventional standoff weapon (LRCSW) program spearheaded by NASA in 1989.

The attractiveness of propfans stems from the fact that they combine a gas turbine engine with propeller technology in a much more efficient way than turboprops do. Propfans thereby approximate the speed performance of turbofans while exhibiting fuel economy better than that of turboprops. A propfan powered Nirbhay therefore ties in well with the missile's loiter capability emphasized in the report.

Thus there is a possibility that the turboprop propulsive unit reported by The Hindu may actually be a misunderstood reference to a propfan engine. And if it is indeed a turboprop engine akin to an aircraft's that the Nirbhay possesses, then the missile in all probability will turn out to be very different from what it has been imagined by observers to be thus far. Either way, we'll find out soon enough.

IBNLive : Saurav Jha's Blog : Propfan engine for DRDO's Nirbhay cruise missile?

Advanced Cruise Missile (Tomahawk style cruise missile with Contra-rotating propellers.) :

Contra-rotating propellers of Advanced Cruise Missile :

Kh-101/-102/-SD (Raduga) proposed propfan R128-300 (rated at 1300 hp for launch/boost and at 500 hp for the cruise phase)

 

[sayareakd]

from what i read in BR, there might be two different versions of nirbhay. Hope it will be fast enough for our need.

 

[sayareakd]

looks like this will be very close to the final version

 

[Shaitan]

looks like this will be very close to the final version

How do you arm something like this on planes and destroyers/frigates?

It'll take up too much space.

 

[SPIEZ]

How do you arm something like this on planes and destroyers/frigates?

It'll take up too much space.

If you consider international standards, cruise missiles of 1,00+km range are 6m long and .5 m wide, mush smaller than the Brahmos.