Nirbhay Cruise Missile Development

Prashant12

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DRDO Conducts Successful Flight Trial of 'NIRBHAY' Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) achieved yet another feat today with the successful test flight of ‘NIRBHAY’ - India’s first indigenously designed and developed Long Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile which can be deployed from multiple platforms. It was successfully test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, Odisha. The missile has the capability to loiter and cruise at 0.7 Mach, at altitudes as low as 100 m. The flight test achieved all the mission objectives completely from lift-off till the final splash, boosting the confidence of all scientists associated with the trial.

The missile took-off in the programmed manner and all critical operations viz. launch phase, booster deployment, engine start, wing deployment and other operational parameters demonstrated through autonomous way point navigation. The guidance, control and navigation system of the missile is configured around the indigenously designed Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG) and MEMS based Inertial Navigation System (INS) along with GPS system. The missile majestically cruised for a total time duration of 50 minutes, achieving the range of 647 km. The missile was tracked with the help of ground based radars and other parameters were monitored by indigenous telemetry stations developed by DRDO.

Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, hailed the success of DRDO Scientists and complimented them for this inspired achievement. She was optimistic that this successful trial would take India to the select League of Nations for possessing this complex technology and sub-sonic cruise missile capability.

Chairman DRDO and Secretary Department of Defence (R&D), Dr. S Christopher, DG (Aero) Dr. CP Ramanarayanan, Director ADE, RCI , ITR and CEMILAC, along with other senior DRDO scientists and user representatives from Army witnessed the momentous launch and congratulated the team ‘NIRBHAY’ for making DRDO proud for the long awaited achievement.

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx
 

mayfair

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This is just the first in a series of tests. I wouldn't be surprised if they were a little conservative with the testing..
 
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sum1

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So, speed is 800kmph on average. 647km/0.83hr = 800kmph.

But the range is disappointing. It is similar to babur
We manage to finally get it working and avoid it being scrapped and this is the biggest worry that its just 600 km range (when it has flown 1000 kms last time)?o_O

Lets celebrate this moment for now since the ADE folks deserve a break after all the pressure to get it right
 

Hari Sud

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Say thank you. Everybody should do that instead of posting negatives about the test. As time progresses and as more tests are done, it will get more sophisticated.

Some advanced and honest analysis is needed to find out what went wrong previously.
 

rone

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i think 647 km is not a big deal this test soul proups was focusing on new Indian components and new structural change hence it made the objective am pretty much sure that they cut down 350 km for better telemetry and test data analysis in coming trails we can see they will test the missile in various long ranges if my calculation correct it not based on us methodology it based on Russia so it may be 1500-1800 km max range only user trail or final development trail, i hope now we have much more advanced cm tech
 

rone

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"as low as 100 m"
Isn't it supposed to be lower?
it can but its is the moderated operating altitude for low level penetration missile .. hence we targeting on urban war fare if we decrees the operational altitude, we may have the chance that it may easy intercepted or collided with any standing object ..so that why in cm we have navel variant where it is in sea skimming version where its operational altitude will be in 2 digits and these altitudes mostly classified , thus this make naval version of cm hard to intercept or detect .. and from my view drdo take long time to develop something world class and indigenous but it now really worth it this may lead to new developments form various types of cm.. i think this will be another Turing point for INDIA just like bramos did
 

Amrk

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Check out @sayareakd’s Tweet:
Sir, why is the nose blunt, won't it increase the drag as a conical nose is more aerodynamic, it can't be because of seeker modification, as the shape of radome doesn't matter when it come, material does.
@Chinmoy , would appreciate your input too.

So, speed is 800kmph on average. 647km/0.83hr = 800kmph.


But the range is disappointing. It is similar to babur
Brother, the official range is more than 1000kms, test for reduced range might be because of risk reduction for this critical test or maybe DRDO doesn't need to do a full range test to capture the needed data, anyways there will definitely be a full range test shortly.
The important part that is that a turbofan which carries a missile 1000kms can carry it to 2000kms too if we want, all we need is a bigger missile(more fuel) and updated guidance if needed.
Nirbhay and Pralay if produced , @1000 each, even @ 500 each, will propel us in the next league of power projection (both are cheaper than Brahmos) and give us a true long range artillery arm similar to PLA 2nd artillery corps.
 

Kalki_2018

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Nice. Hopefully next test will explore and enlarge the envelop. Including lower treetop heights and full range of 1500 km. Nirbhay is needed is far more quantities than Brahmos. Saturate the AD with Nirbhays and take out the HVT with Brahmos and Shaurya.
 

Chinmoy

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Sir, why is the nose blunt, won't it increase the drag as a conical nose is more aerodynamic, it can't be because of seeker modification, as the shape of radome doesn't matter when it come, material does.
@Chinmoy , would appreciate your input too.



Brother, the official range is more than 1000kms, test for reduced range might be because of risk reduction for this critical test or maybe DRDO doesn't need to do a full range test to capture the needed data, anyways there will definitely be a full range test shortly.
The important part that is that a turbofan which carries a missile 1000kms can carry it to 2000kms too if we want, all we need is a bigger missile(more fuel) and updated guidance if needed.
Nirbhay and Pralay if produced , @1000 each, even @ 500 each, will propel us in the next league of power projection (both are cheaper than Brahmos) and give us a true long range artillery arm similar to PLA 2nd artillery corps.
One more crucial thing which we all might have missed today. Nirbhay clocked 647 km at 50 minutes or we could say it flew at an average speed of 0.65 mach. One step closer to low speed loitering capability. :)
 

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