India will formally incorporate the Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile into the Indian Army and Navy after the seventh test scheduled next month, but has already moved a limited number of missiles to the Royal Line of Control, where Indian soldiers are trapped in a tense standoff with China’s PLA. .
The 1,000 km range solid booster rocket missile has a single shot kill rate of over 90%. It has been developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), people familiar with the development told the Hindustan Times hours after India conducted a test firing of an extended-range BrahMos supersonic surface-to-surface cruise missile that It can hit targets 400 km away.
The Defense Acquisition Council headed by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has authorized the formal induction of the Nirbhay subsonic missile. The military, however, did not wait for formality to deploy the new missile and has already moved some of them to defend LAC against China.
The missile, traveling at a speed of Mach 0.7, has the ability to hug the terrain and skim the sea that helps it avoid detection and countermeasures.
In LAC, the PLA’s western theater command has deployed combat weapons of up to 2,000 km in range and long-range surface-to-air missiles in Tibet and Xinjiang after the Ladakh standoff began in May this year. The Chinese deployment is not limited to the occupied Aksai Chin, but is located deep from Kashgar, Hotan, Lhasa and Nyingchi along the 3,488 km Royal Line of Control (LAC).
Officials said Wednesday’s tests of the 400 km-range BrahMos missiles with an indigenous fuselage and booster are important as they clear the decks for India to have the next class of long-range supersonic tactical cruise missiles. The Brahmos has a liquid fuel propellant capable of reaching ranges of more than 500 km.
These new age weapons will be based on solid fuel ducted ramjet (SFDR) technology that can be used for air-to-air missiles as well as long-range supersonic cruise missiles. The technology has been tested by the DRDO twice: May 30, 2018, and February 8, 2019.
“The new class of cruise missiles will have a solid rocket booster coupled with supersonic speed using SFDR technology. The range of missiles can be decided based on the mission objectives, ”said an Indian missile expert.
It is understood that the new class of cruise missiles (yet to be named) will have a better circular probability error than BrahMos with a heavy conventional warhead for attacking enemy air bases and ships.
.
