Nirbhay Cruise Missile Development

[Chinmoy]

Bcuz he knows army is full of corrupt dalas and without pressure they will not buy it.

Unless Tomahawk is offered to Army, they have no choice but to go with it. So relax.

 

[Hydra3]

What is the status of nirbhay? There is reoprt that program is technically closed. What does it mean?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/swaraj...-defence-expo-2020-that-you-should-know-about

 

[Chinmoy]

What is the status of nirbhay? There is reoprt that program is technically closed. What does it mean?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/swarajyamag.com/amp/story/news-brief%2Fnew-missiles-and-more-five-developments-from-defence-expo-2020-that-you-should-know-about

Same as that of Trishul.

In other words, it means that DRDO has renamed the program & declared Nirbhay to be TD.

 

[Hydra3]

Same as that of Trishul.

In other words, it means that DRDO has renamed the program & declared Nirbhay to be TD.

So nirbhay didn't live up to the expectations?

 

[aarav]

So nirbhay didn't live up to the expectations?

They are now developing a naval land attack version known as Long range Land attack cruise missile LRLACM and it can be launched from BrahMos Launchers & air version & a indigenous engine ,now the programme is known as Indigenous Technology Cruise missile as engine and seeker are also Indian

 

[IndianHawk]

So nirbhay didn't live up to the expectations?

Tech development in India has moved far ahead of what nirbhay was set to achieve .
They are confident of building a more sleeker stealthy missile with much better seeker and much longer shelf life. Hence a new project.

Nirbhay achieved it's objective but such previous generation missile are simply not good enough when scalp and bramhos ng are coming to arsenal.

 

[Chain smoker]

Tech development in India has moved far ahead of what nirbhay was set to achieve .
They are confident of building a more sleeker stealthy missile with much better seeker and much longer shelf life. Hence a new project.

Nirbhay achieved it's objective but such previous generation missile are simply not good enough when scalp and bramhos ng are coming to arsenal.

So design of this missile will be different from nirbhay and how it became old since it is having all the capabilities of modern cruise missiles?

 

[IndianHawk]

So design of this missile will be different from nirbhay and how it became old since it is having all the capabilities of modern cruise missiles?

Nirbhay is basically indian tomahawk. Which is essentially a very old missile although improved periodically. We were late in developing nirbhay due to shortage of funds.

But now we have indegenious seekers for bramhos and astra and Akash etc. Bramhos itself has range of 850 km after Indian entry into MTCR. Further minimising need of old nirbhay. It's internal components had lesser shelf life due to older tech .

Also indegenous cruise engine manik is also ready which may have demanded some changes .

Now with parallel development of bramhos ng , bramhos2 and hypersonic missile +sfdr. We have much better components for missile plus much better material. All these things add up and we had to improve nirbhay to next gen but muchwith so improvement they thought a new missile will come faster. Design will be better than nirbhay and probably stealthy because subsonic cruise missile can be shot down easily if not stealthy like Pakistani cruise missiles.

Also range may improve a lot. Originally nirbhay was meant to be cheap 1000-1500km missile. But with bramhos reaching 850km range and longer production run meant bramhos is more suitable to strike at 1000-1500km with less warhead.

So my guess is that nirbhay successor will have to be
A) completely indeginous with Desi seeker and manik engine so that it's much cheaper to bramhos.
B) stealthy like scalp so that it can survive enemy defense.
C) much longer range 2000km++ .
D) much lighter than current nirbhay probably within 1000kg preferably 700-800 kg .

So a much much better missile. That's why nirbhay has been stopped now.

 

[Chinmoy]

So nirbhay didn't live up to the expectations?

Opposite of it. If you have seen or tracked it's development course, it had ticked off all the boxes except engine.
The project has not been scrapped, but it's been renamed.

 

[Snowcat]

Nirbhay is basically indian tomahawk. Which is essentially a very old missile although improved periodically. We were late in developing nirbhay due to shortage of funds.

But now we have indegenious seekers for bramhos and astra and Akash etc. Bramhos itself has range of 850 km after Indian entry into MTCR. Further minimising need of old nirbhay. It's internal components had lesser shelf life due to older tech .

Also indegenous cruise engine manik is also ready which may have demanded some changes .

Now with parallel development of bramhos ng , bramhos2 and hypersonic missile +sfdr. We have much better components for missile plus much better material. All these things add up and we had to improve nirbhay to next gen but muchwith so improvement they thought a new missile will come faster. Design will be better than nirbhay and probably stealthy because subsonic cruise missile can be shot down easily if not stealthy like Pakistani cruise missiles.

Also range may improve a lot. Originally nirbhay was meant to be cheap 1000-1500km missile. But with bramhos reaching 850km range and longer production run meant bramhos is more suitable to strike at 1000-1500km with less warhead.

So my guess is that nirbhay successor will have to be
A) completely indeginous with Desi seeker and manik engine so that it's much cheaper to bramhos.
B) stealthy like scalp so that it can survive enemy defense.
C) much longer range 2000km++ .
D) much lighter than current nirbhay probably within 1000kg preferably 700-800 kg .

So a much much better missile. That's why nirbhay has been stopped now.

All good points except the over exaggerated range for brahmos, 600 km was in the cards but apparently it's still 500, but it's nowhere close to 850

 

[no smoking]

All good points except the over exaggerated range for brahmos, 600 km was in the cards but apparently it's still 500, but it's nowhere close to 850

Russia's latest variant of Oniks has extended range up to 800km. Based on the agreement btw 2 countries. This new improvement will be provided to India later.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

What is the status of nirbhay? There is reoprt that program is technically closed. What does it mean?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/swarajyamag.com/amp/story/news-brief%2Fnew-missiles-and-more-five-developments-from-defence-expo-2020-that-you-should-know-about

Redirected to new cruise series a program.

A number of short, medium & long range and submarine/surface/air launched cruise missiles will be developed.

 

[janme]

As posted by Chinmoy somewhere in the thread earlier:-

"For starters, in January, the Indian Air Force officially expressed interest in an air-launched version of the Nirbhay, tentatively designated Nirbhay-A for the stand-off air to ground role for its Su-30 MKI jet platform, solidifying its support with a stated interest in acquiring at least 40 systems once it is proven. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa is understood to have designated a Group Captain-rank officer to be embedded with the new effort and help accelerate development of the air-launched Nirbhay for the area attack role. Both the IAF and DRDO have mutually agreed on a target of 2020 for first drop (weapon release) and 2021 for first test launch."

"But it’s in the Indian Navy’s requirement for the Nirbhay that the missile will really be pushing the proverbial boat out. Simply put, the navy is significantly hungrier for range and wants a version of the Nirbhay that tops its current 1,000 km figures. An Indian Navy source confirmed this, saying the navy is interested in a Nirbhay variant with a maximum range of at least 1,500 km to ‘account for the various types of strike missions that may need to be undertaken with a stand-off system, including land attack’.

At present the navy has pushed interest in a ship-launched version, though interest in a submarine-launched modification may follow."

"“We are conducting a range extension study of the Nirbhay for the navy,”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In its five development tests, the Nirbhay has been powered by Russian NPO Saturn 36MT mini turbofan engines. The DRDO’s engine laboratory GTRE (Gas Turbine Research Establishment) is currently steeped in developing a similar indigenous mini turbofan engine called Manik in deep collaboration with the Centre for Propulsion Technology at IIT Chennai and IIT Bombay. Ground runs of the engine are slated to begin this year."

"“We are developing the three versions of Nirbhay now. The Manik engine should be ready for testing in two years. By the time user trials begin, we hope to be in a position to offer Manik-powered Nirbhay, at which point the system will be over 95% indigenous. This is a major task for us since this is something we have to prove to the world,”


https://www.livefistdefence.com/201...-plans-for-indias-nirbhay-cruise-missile.html

 

[IndianHawk]

As posted by Chinmoy somewhere in the thread earlier:-

"For starters, in January, the Indian Air Force officially expressed interest in an air-launched version of the Nirbhay, tentatively designated Nirbhay-A for the stand-off air to ground role for its Su-30 MKI jet platform, solidifying its support with a stated interest in acquiring at least 40 systems once it is proven. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa is understood to have designated a Group Captain-rank officer to be embedded with the new effort and help accelerate development of the air-launched Nirbhay for the area attack role. Both the IAF and DRDO have mutually agreed on a target of 2020 for first drop (weapon release) and 2021 for first test launch."

"But it’s in the Indian Navy’s requirement for the Nirbhay that the missile will really be pushing the proverbial boat out. Simply put, the navy is significantly hungrier for range and wants a version of the Nirbhay that tops its current 1,000 km figures. An Indian Navy source confirmed this, saying the navy is interested in a Nirbhay variant with a maximum range of at least 1,500 km to ‘account for the various types of strike missions that may need to be undertaken with a stand-off system, including land attack’.

At present the navy has pushed interest in a ship-launched version, though interest in a submarine-launched modification may follow."

"“We are conducting a range extension study of the Nirbhay for the navy,”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In its five development tests, the Nirbhay has been powered by Russian NPO Saturn 36MT mini turbofan engines. The DRDO’s engine laboratory GTRE (Gas Turbine Research Establishment) is currently steeped in developing a similar indigenous mini turbofan engine called Manik in deep collaboration with the Centre for Propulsion Technology at IIT Chennai and IIT Bombay. Ground runs of the engine are slated to begin this year."

"“We are developing the three versions of Nirbhay now. The Manik engine should be ready for testing in two years. By the time user trials begin, we hope to be in a position to offer Manik-powered Nirbhay, at which point the system will be over 95% indigenous. This is a major task for us since this is something we have to prove to the world,”


https://www.livefistdefence.com/201...-plans-for-indias-nirbhay-cruise-missile.html

This is from 2018 . A lot has changed since .

 

[Kchontha]

India to Test Nirbhay Cruise Missile With Indigenous Propulsion System
The first developmental trial of a Nirbhay cruise missile fitted with an indigenous propulsion system is expected to take place in April.

By Franz-Stefan Gady
February 07, 2020

Credit: Defense Research and Development Organization
spoke to IHS Jane’s during the February 5 to 9 Defexpo 2020 exhibition in Lucknow, northern India.

The indigenous Small Turbo Fan Engine (STFE) is under development by DRDO’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE). The new engine along with a new radio frequency seeker is expected to be tested during two developmental trials in April, with a live firing slated to take place in January or February 2021. Development of the LRLACM is scheduled to be completed the same year.

Nirbhay is India’s first indigenously designed and developed long-range cruise missile.

The Nirbhay is a subsonic LRLACM that can be armed with a 200-300-kilogram warhead. The nuclear-capable, solid fuel missile can reportedly reach top speeds of 0.6-0.7 Mach and can strike land targets at a distance of up to 1,000 kilometers. It can be launched from multiple platforms — the first test of the air-launched variant is expected to take place in 2021. The Nirbhay reportedly has loitering capability.

The sixth flight test of the Nirbhay LRLACM took place at the Integrated Test Range on Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha in April 2019.

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The test validated the low altitude and the sea skimming capability of the missile. A previous successful test launch of the Nirbhay missile took place in November 2017. Another test launch in December 2016 ended in failure, with the LRLACM destroyed in mid-air after it deviated from its course. As I noted in February 2019:

Two other test launches also ended in failure, with only one other flight trial, conducted in October 2014, declared a success. DRDO engineers have pointed to problems with the flight control software and navigation system of the Nirbhay, as well as hardware design flaws, for the causes of the failed missile tests.

The ship-launched version of the Nirbhay could be inducted into service by as early as 2023, according to the ADE official. A test of a submarine-launched variant of the Nirbhay from a submerged platform may take place by the end of 2020, the official added, with an actual test launch set to occur in 2021.

considered terminating the Nirbhay program on multiple occasions in the past. In addition to technical and funding issues, senior Indian military officers have raised questions over the Indian military’s operational requirement for a subsonic LRLACM.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...Vaw2JD-Cy4FjI7wKKwB8luYtt&cshid=1585535885441
https://thediplomat.com/2020/02/ahead-of-trump-visit-india-clears-procurement-of-24-mh-60r-seahawk-helicopters/


https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/how-afghanistan-failed-to-contain-covid-19/

 

[Hydra3]

Tech development in India has moved far ahead of what nirbhay was set to achieve .
They are confident of building a more sleeker stealthy missile with much better seeker and much longer shelf life. Hence a new project.

Nirbhay achieved it's objective but such previous generation missile are simply not good enough when scalp and bramhos ng are coming to arsenal.

So, its high likely that we are developing a stealth smart missile like LRASM?

 

[IndianHawk]

So, its high likely that we are developing a stealth smart missile like LRASM?

I believe so. Subsonic missile won't survive future battlespace unless they go stealthy. That's why scalp is so potent despite being subsonic because it can penetrate enemy air defenses with precision.

 

[Hydra3]

I believe so. Subsonic missile won't survive future battlespace unless they go stealthy. That's why scalp is so potent despite being subsonic because it can penetrate enemy air defenses with precision.

Its good development i guess, its high time to stay away from overly depending upon brahmos.

 

[BON PLAN]

The indigenous Small Turbo Fan Engine (STFE) is under development by DRDO’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE).

What is the actual engine of Nirbhay ?

 

[Ajax01]

NPO Saturn 36MT I think was the engine used