Akash Surface-to-air Missile

[Defcon 1]

Twinblade,
Does Astra has active homming systems to avoid jamming? Can technologies can be shared between Astra and Akash especially when it comes to interceptors?

Astra has active radar homing, i.e. it has its own radar for terminal phase guidance. It is used for guidance, not to avoid jamming.

 

[power_monger]

Astra has active radar homing, i.e. it has its own radar for terminal phase guidance. It is used for guidance, not to avoid jamming.

Taken from wiki,Astra has on-board ECCM capability allowing it to jam radar signals from an enemy surface-to-air battery, ensuring that the missile is not tracked or shot down.

 

[Defcon 1]

Taken from wiki,Astra has on-board ECCM capability allowing it to jam radar signals from an enemy surface-to-air battery, ensuring that the missile is not tracked or shot down.

Yes, it has ECCM capability. But that is not part of Active radar homing. Active radar homing is a guidance technique. Basically ARH means that missile has its own radar which is activated once missile reaches sufficiently close to the target aircraft. The missile then uses that radar to follow the aircraft.

 

[cobra commando]

Successful 'Akash' Trial for Second Day

BALASORE: For the second day in a row, India today successfully conducted trial of its indigenously developed surface-to-air 'Akash' missile, which has a strike range of 25 km, from a test range in Odisha as part of a user trial by the Air Force. "The sophisticated Akash missile was test-fired from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur at about 1.20 PM," defence sources here said. Describing the trials as "fully successful", ITR Director M V K V Prasad said, "The entire exercise was carried out as part of a user trial by Indian Air Force." It was a repeat test of yesterday's trial, he said. The trial of Akash conducted yesterday was also successful. 'Akash' is a medium range surface-to-air anti-aircraft defence system developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme. While the Air Force version has already been inducted, the Army version is in the final stage of induction into the armed forces, the sources said. The missile has a strike range of 25 km and can carry a warhead of 60 kgs. It has the capability to target aircraft up to 30 km away and is packed with a battery that can track and attack several targets simultaneously, they said. With its capability to neutralise aerial targets like fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles, defence experts compare 'Akash' to the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system of the USA. Besides yesterday, the missile was last test-fired from the same base on June 19.

Successful 'Akash' Trial for Second Day - The New Indian Express

 

[anupamsurey]

i think express news services should ban themselves out, they said that akash user trial for IAF was a failure. it just means that they are very lousy to report or they are deliberately doing it .

 

[PaliwalWarrior]

so it seems that only IAF has cancelled the Maitri project

Not the IA

What are the difference between the 2 versions

also if IAF is satisfied with Aakash

what the problem with army?

 

[power_monger]

Make no mistakes, Akash is an interceptor of vintage design backed by a very robust back end. Akash missile doesn't have an on board seeker which makes it very susceptible to electronic countermeasures. The enemy aircraft can jam the command link between the missile and the command center and it will go blind, and without a seeker, it cannot even home on jam. Even the Akash 2 is rumoured to have only semi active homing which should boost its capabilities reasonably without affecting the cost much.

Refer post 503 posted by archer..

The Akash was originally planned to have an ARH system but it was dropped when the performance really didnt justify the investment! The missile's CG system proved accurate enough to guarantee a kill in the presence of heavy ECM in trials against the IAF, which BTW operates some of the best jammers developed locally, and sourced from a variety of sources including israel and the west!

what do you say about this statement?

 

[Eastman]

Refer post 503 posted by archer..

The Akash was originally planned to have an ARH system but it was dropped when the performance really didnt justify the investment! The missile's CG system proved accurate enough to guarantee a kill in the presence of heavy ECM in trials against the IAF, which BTW operates some of the best jammers developed locally, and sourced from a variety of sources including israel and the west!

what do you say about this statement?

The true story is India had no first hand access to radar seeker head technology, in fact till date it is not clear how much of access India have on it. Still in beta version I guess.
moreover,
What I believe if you can't jam a radio wave unless you know about its frequency of its operation.

 

[power_monger]

I dont think our seeker technology is far lagging.
Then how does our ballistic missile defence program work? How does our PAD interceptors work?

 

[Eastman]

I dont think our seeker technology is far lagging.
Then how does our ballistic missile defence program work? How does our PAD interceptors work?

Not sure it they are domestic R&D or hired technology

 

[Eastman]

I dont think our seeker technology is far lagging.
Then how does our ballistic missile defence program work? How does our PAD interceptors work?

Actually if you follow India's missile developments you will find that in the field India is lagging behind is in seeker technology

 

[power_monger]

Make no mistakes, Akash is an interceptor of vintage design backed by a very robust back end. Akash missile doesn't have an on board seeker which makes it very susceptible to electronic countermeasures. The enemy aircraft can jam the command link between the missile and the command center and it will go blind, and without a seeker, it cannot even home on jam. Even the Akash 2 is rumoured to have only semi active homing which should boost its capabilities reasonably without affecting the cost much.
If army and navy outright import a new SAM system, there will be no future variants of Maitri with MICA replaced by Astra.

Isnt Astra planned for Induction by 2016? Sources in DRDO seem to be quite happy with progress of Astra AAM and are confident on its induction by 2016. If so do you think Maitri project is worth the money? Once astra is inducted,dont you think it would be quite easy to convert it into a SAM given astra was tested extensivly from ground based launcher prior to integration with sukhoi?

Also wouldnt you think it makes sense in keeping Akash 2 to semic active homing to keep the cost low,and use Astra if need for active homing seeker missile is required?Pardon me if question seems silly,how different a Land based Astra would be from a Akash 2(if it had active radar homing?)Arent they same?

 

[power_monger]

One more question,I saw this comment in BRF forum which mentions on the advantage of Akash without active seeker.What do you think on this?

The Akash missile completely guided by the Radar, without any active guidance of its own. This allows it greater capability against jamming as the aircraft self-protection jammer would have to work against the high power Rajendra, and the aircraft being attacked is not alerted by any terminal seeker on the Akash itself.

 

[ersakthivel]

One more question,I saw this comment in BRF forum which mentions on the advantage of Akash without active seeker.What do you think on this?

The Akash missile completely guided by the Radar, without any active guidance of its own. This allows it greater capability against jamming as the aircraft self-protection jammer would have to work against the high power Rajendra, and the aircraft being attacked is not alerted by any terminal seeker on the Akash itself.

If akash is really that bad, why is the airforce saying that we dont need maitri?

 

[ladder]

If akash is really that bad, why is the airforce saying that we dont need maitri?

But where does it say Akash is bad?

 

[power_monger]

But where does it say Akash is bad?

Perhaps he is referring to the Word 'Vintage design' used by Twinblade for Akash.

 

[Twinblade]

Isnt Astra planned for Induction by 2016? Sources in DRDO seem to be quite happy with progress of Astra AAM and are confident on its induction by 2016. If so do you think Maitri project is worth the money? Once astra is inducted,dont you think it would be quite easy to convert it into a SAM given astra was tested extensivly from ground based launcher prior to integration with sukhoi?

Also wouldnt you think it makes sense in keeping Akash 2 to semic active homing to keep the cost low,and use Astra if need for active homing seeker missile is required?Pardon me if question seems silly,how different a Land based Astra would be from a Akash 2(if it had active radar homing?)Arent they same?

Maitri project is worth the money because it helps recover sunk cost and expertise invested in Trishul project. Astra is yet to enter user trials, whatever is happening right now is development trials. If you want to have an Astra based Maitri/Trishul, you can wait several more years, by that time, Navy, Army would have already selected their missiles. Remember MICA missile was not imposed upon DRDO for maitri by any external agency, it was rather chosen by DRDO for Maitri, and they are well aware of progress on Astra project.

One more question,I saw this comment in BRF forum which mentions on the advantage of Akash without active seeker.What do you think on this?

The Akash missile completely guided by the Radar, without any active guidance of its own. This allows it greater capability against jamming as the aircraft self-protection jammer would have to work against the high power Rajendra, and the aircraft being attacked is not alerted by any terminal seeker on the Akash itself.

Utterly false. The enemy aircraft will not have to jam the Rajendra radar, just the command link between the control hub and the missile and Akash goes blind because it doesn't even have a semi active seeker in it's current form. A missile with an active seeker can rely on active seeker, home on using illumination from radar (semi active mode), home on jam and seek guidance from the radar via command link. So even if the enemy aircraft jams the command link, there are 3 more guidance modes available.

 

[Jagdish58]

Any News on the Akash Mk2 ?? is the project still alive or replaced by SAM system of AAD version & Airdefence version of Astra 1 & Astra 2 combo

 

[power_monger]

If you want to have an Astra based Maitri/Trishul, you can wait several more years, by that time, Navy, Army would have already selected their missiles. Remember MICA missile was not imposed upon DRDO for maitri by any external agency, it was rather chosen by DRDO for Maitri, and they are well aware of progress on Astra project.

Maitri project was selected during 2011. As far as i know Astra had severe weight issues during 2011.It weighed almost 300 Kgs which posed huge doubts on its usage.I think around 2013 they made several modifications to Astra and now it weighs around 150Kgs which is quite acceptable. So we need to know if DRDO really wants maitri project to continue? Yesterday's article in IDRW says MICA has guaranteed 45000 crores worth exports and 75% indigniousation as offsets. lets wait and see.

BTW,any idea on how much it will cost if army goes for staright imports?Because 20K crores is huge lot of money. Suddenly all defense deals seem to have crossed 10000 crores mark nowdays .

 

[ersakthivel]

Maitri project is worth the money because it helps recover sunk cost and expertise invested in Trishul project. Astra is yet to enter user trials, whatever is happening right now is development trials. If you want to have an Astra based Maitri/Trishul, you can wait several more years, by that time, Navy, Army would have already selected their missiles. Remember MICA missile was not imposed upon DRDO for maitri by any external agency, it was rather chosen by DRDO for Maitri, and they are well aware of progress on Astra project.



Utterly false. The enemy aircraft will not have to jam the Rajendra radar, just the command link between the control hub and the missile and Akash goes blind because it doesn't even have a semi active seeker in it's current form. A missile with an active seeker can rely on active seeker, home on using illumination from radar (semi active mode), home on jam and seek guidance from the radar via command link. So even if the enemy aircraft jams the command link, there are 3 more guidance modes available.

That is true of any air to air missile. All of them rely on guidance till they reach close enough to switch on their active seeker.

So if the link which guides the missile closer to the fighter can be fouled in akash it can be fouled in any other missile before they reach close enough to switch on their active seeker.

Also Akash is not launched in solo one vs one against a fighter.

many salvos will be fired at intruding fighter, with in the available few seconds will it be possible for a fighter to jam the link of all the missiles, which will be hopping frequencies with a quick pace,

If it is so then the whole concept of 5th gen stealth fighters are useless,because all4.5 the gen fighters can foul the link between 5th gen the fighter and the BVR missile launched from them , before the missile reaches close enough to switch their active seekers.