Nirbhay Cruise Missile Development

[Bhadra]

But, the DRDO officials in Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad have gone into a shell, working on a common script and refusing to reveal any details of the launch. "The DRDO HQ had to answer some queries recently over too many sensitive information appearing in the media. These are national programmes and the DRDO has been told to adopt a tied-tongue policy," a top official with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. The Services too have expressed their displeasure of too many DRDO officials interacting with the media, ahead of critical launches.

That much for being tight lipped. Tight lips which say more than required...

 

[rock127]

That much for being tight lipped. Tight lips which say more than required...

It's better for DRDO to stay tight lipped rather than being a big mouth.

India media have a habit of sensationalizing anything for TRP and sometime risking leaks of sensitive information.

 

[Singh]

It's better for DRDO to stay tight lipped rather than being a big mouth.

India media have a habit of sensationalizing anything for TRP and sometime risking leaks of sensitive information.

DRDO top honchos/PR guys love blowing their own trumpet.

 

[rock127]

DRDO top honchos/PR guys love blowing their own trumpet.

Did they term A-5 as 8000+km missile?

Or when they acknowledged recent missile test when they have already done many tests already for the same missile?

 

[Bheeshma]

Where is nirbhay??

 

[afako]

Where is nirbhay??

Missile has reached Chandipur Test range. It can happen anytime. I expect before 10th March.

 

[Bheeshma]

Awesome..all the best to drdo

 

[From Realm of D&T]

I guess a missile the size of Nirbhay can be pushed to 2500 maybe 3000 Km. But that's going to need a lot of work of course.

DRDO, I think, is developing new version of Nirbhay with 2,000 KM range

 

[From Realm of D&T]

if its really 6 mtr tall than its a very small and compact missile even smaller than club missile. really looking forward for its speedy induction

6 Meters= 20 feets

Tomahawk too is 20 feet 6 inch long(with booster)

BTW I am not allowed to post links, why?

@Singh> Kindly elaborate it, sir

 

[Singh]

BTW I am not allowed to post links, why?

@Singh> Kindly elaborate it, sir

Anti-spam feature. You need to post more than 10 posts to be able to post links.

 

[manishhot]

The secretive Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile could be tested for the first time on March 10 at the Integrated Test Range off Odisha's coast. Nearly nothing is officially known about the Nirbhay other than it is an intermediate range cruise weapon. DRDL, which will conduct the test, has been circumspect about the system and its capabilities. It hasn't helped that the weapon has been delayed more than two years.

Earlier this year, DRDO Chief V.K. Saraswat highlighted the Nirbhay as one of three systems he wanted to see make a splash in 2013. "Nirbhay has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features," Saraswat said about the system. Sources indicate that a launch window begins on March 10 and will be contingent on weather conditions to facilitate telemetry especially since this is a first ever test.

The Nirbhay will be developed for multi-platform use, including from a road-mobile launcher (built by the Tata Group already to deploy the Prahar system), ship and submarine launch, as well as air launch from platforms like the Su-30MKI. While there is no official word, the Nirbhay is understood to be intended as a nuclear delivery system.

 

[sayareakd]

The secretive Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile could be tested for the first time on March 10 at the Integrated Test Range off Odisha's coast. Nearly nothing is officially known about the Nirbhay other than it is an intermediate range cruise weapon. DRDL, which will conduct the test, has been circumspect about the system and its capabilities. It hasn't helped that the weapon has been delayed more than two years.

Earlier this year, DRDO Chief V.K. Saraswat highlighted the Nirbhay as one of three systems he wanted to see make a splash in 2013. "Nirbhay has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features," Saraswat said about the system. Sources indicate that a launch window begins on March 10 and will be contingent on weather conditions to facilitate telemetry especially since this is a first ever test.

The Nirbhay will be developed for multi-platform use, including from a road-mobile launcher (built by the Tata Group already to deploy the Prahar system), ship and submarine launch, as well as air launch from platforms like the Su-30MKI. While there is no official word, the Nirbhay is understood to be intended as a nuclear delivery system.

Bold and underline part is very interesting......................... That means in future they are going to increase its range to max 5000 km.

 

[DivineHeretic]

Bold and underline part is very interesting......................... That means in future they are going to increase its range to max 5000 km.

Subsonic missiles at such ranges become a liability, rather than an asset. This is one of the reason the Tomahawk was capped at 2500km. Only the Russians have CMs with longe range than that, and no new developments are planned.
The cruise missile to achieve such range must be very long, not to mention heavier and more expensive. For us the Nirbhay will complement the Brahmos, especially the brahmos 2 as a low cost alternative with terrain hugging characteristics. If it loses the price advantage, it will be better to use the hypersonic brahmos.

 

[sayareakd]

Subsonic missiles at such ranges become a liability, rather than an asset. This is one of the reason the Tomahawk was capped at 2500km. Only the Russians have CMs with longe range than that, and no new developments are planned.
The cruise missile to achieve such range must be very long, not to mention heavier and more expensive. For us the Nirbhay will complement the Brahmos, especially the brahmos 2 as a low cost alternative with terrain hugging characteristics. If it loses the price advantage, it will be better to use the hypersonic brahmos.

sir our major targets are not in 2000 km from China border, we need long legs to strike deep and we need lots and lots of Nirbhay. It should be cheap and long range missile.

 

[Bheeshma]

We need 2 variants 1000-15000 range and 3000 km range.

 

[DivineHeretic]

sir our major targets are not in 2000 km from China border, we need long legs to strike deep and we need lots and lots of Nirbhay. It should be cheap and long range missile.

I am actually much junior to yourself, So am flattered for calling me Sir.

But seriously, I do know that that major economic and strategic targets in China are deeper than 2000km, even more than 3000km to be honest.
The Nirbhay or any other subsonic missile would never survive such distances over China travelling over dense enemy air defences. This is another weakness of subsonic CMs. It might fly a terrain hugging profile but AWACS and other low level AD radars will pick it up eventually. This is why the tomahawk would always be used at lesse ranges than its max range and would fly through the least dense sectors enroute to target.

The sheer amount of time over hostile airspace is a primary cause of concern as far as CMs go, especially with far better AD missiles being present now. If the tomahawk was developed now, it most likely wouldn't have such range.This is why the US is developing hypersonic exo atmospheric platforms, or for that matter we are working with Russians for Brahmos 2, not to mention our indeginious hypersonic platform. They will allow us to conduct ultra deep strikes with minimum time over hostile airspace.

 

[rock127]

We need 2 variants 1000-15000 range and 3000 km range.

Yeah... 1 dedicated to western border and other for eastern border.

More % is needed for western border though.

 

[afako]

sir our major targets are not in 2000 km from China border, we need long legs to strike deep and we need lots and lots of Nirbhay. It should be cheap and long range missile.

Arihant Class should be converted into SSGNs like Ohio Class.

Another way could be P15B Destroyer.

 

[sayareakd]

Arihant Class should be converted into SSGNs like Ohio Class.

Another way could be P15B Destroyer.

we should have missile bay ships (both for nirbhay and K15 ship launch version). Plus wont be bad idea to have PDV and AAD on these missile bay ships.

 

[DivineHeretic]

Arihant Class should be converted into SSGNs like Ohio Class.

Another way could be P15B Destroyer.

It wouldn't make much sense converting the aRihants to SSGNs. They can only carry some 12 K15s or 4 K4s. Assuming you dont go for hull extension, the space available for CMs will be same as that for BMs.
With such small sapce, the number of CMs onboard the SSGN will be too low to make a real impact.
Note that the Ohio class launched some 154 tomahawks against Libya in the early stages.

The P15A too has similar space constraints. Unlike the Zumwalt or Arleigh burke class DDGs, which carry a complement of 96 tomahawks, the P15A holds only a 4*4 cell for Brahmos ASM.