Indian Missiles and Munitions Discussion

From the profile of Dr G. Satheesh Reddy NITM Convocation 2019

Major initiatives & accomplishments
  1. As Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri (SA to RM)
  • (a) National Strategic Material Policy ‐ Identified the need for a National Material Policy for strategic materials and the detailed report by the high level expert committee has been approved by Hon’ble Raksha Mantri. National Strategic Material Policy has been finalized and the same is under inter‐ministerial consultations.
  • (b) Self Sufficiency in Missile Systems ‐ The requirements of Missile Systems by all three Services have been reviewed, documented and got the policy directive issued for making the country self sufficient in Missile Systems by 2022.
  • (c) National Innovative Manufacturing Policy ‐ To create an innovative manufacturing ecosystem, initiated a National meet in collaboration with NITI Aayog, Department of industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and evolved policies & modalities for establishing Innovative Manufacturing Institutes and Centres. Cabinet Note is being worked out along with various other departments.
  • (d) Strengthening National Cipher Policy ‐ As Chairman of Cipher Policy, simplified the mechanisms for ease of operations at the same time ensuring security aspects and issued directives for national crypto efforts and policies.
  • (e) Defence Space Research‐ Envisioned the need for initiation of Defence Space research under DRDO for R&D in space technologies, satellite launch on demand & other space assets for the country’s defence applications.
  • (f) Cyber Space ‐ To strengthen the national cyber deterrence capability, established a Cyber Research Centre ‐ a facility for providing cyber operations support and systems.
  • (g) National Geographic Information and Map Policy ‐ Led formulation of Map policy to enable simple mechanisms to use maps and related data without compromising National security. Chaired the formulation of National Geographic information policy finalizing the principles and contours including geographic data representation and sharing acceptable to all stakeholders including private entrepreneurs.
  • (h) Promoting Indigenization ‐ The need for indigenous materials manufacturing has been analysed and a model for Price incentives to indigenous material manufacturers has been developed and subsequently approved by Hon’ble RM. In the pursuit of realizing Make in India, many mechanisms have been created for indigenizing various components and sub‐systems. Interfaced with many PSUs, Private Industries, Academia and resolved techno‐managerial issues for strengthening and supporting indigenous Defence R&D.
  • (i) Advising Hon’ble RM on
    • All scientific, security and technical matters related to National security and Defence.
    • Inter‐governmental Defence technology cooperation, Defence Procurement procedures, Defence Acquisition Council and promoted indigenisation in Defence Production.
  • As Director General, Missiles and Strategic Systems
    Spearheading Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex, Integrated Test Range, Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory and other Strategic Technical facilities and Sites. Leading the design and development of wide range of tactical and strategic missile systems. During last two years, steered multiple projects to success and strengthened Users’ confidence leading to induction.
    • Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) programme ‐ Provided necessary thrust to the Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) programme and successfully demonstrated the Exo (PDV) and Endo (AAD) atmospheric Interception capabilities. Interceptor Missions achieved a major milestone by directly hitting the targets and paved the way for induction.
    • ICBM Agni 5 and Long Range Agni 4 ‐ Successfully flight tested the road mobile 5000km range ICBM Agni‐V and 4000km range Agni‐IV strengthening the country’s strategic deterrence capabilities.
    • BVRAAM Astra ‐ Successfully demonstrated Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Astra Missile for its complete launch envelope with indigenous Seeker.
    • LRSAM (IN) and MRSAM (AF) ‐ Steered the programme and overseen the successful flight tests of the advanced Surface to Air Missiles further boosting the Air Defence capabilities.
    • BrahMos (Air Version) ‐ Vital role in demonstration of precision strike capabilities of BrahMos Air Version and extended range combat effectiveness with state‐of‐the‐art Onboard Avionics.
    • Prithvi, Dhanush, Agni 1, Agni 2 and Agni 3 ‐ Gave necessary thrust for post induction flight tests thereby demonstrating the efficacy and reliability of the weapon systems and boosting the confidence of the Users.
    • Guided Bombs ‐ Successfully completed the development trials of country’s first 1000kg class guided Bomb Garuthma (100km range) and Garuda (35km range) from Su‐30MKI paving the way for Long Range Guided Bombs (LRGBs).
    • Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW) ‐ Steered the conceptualization, design, development and successful flight test of 125kg SAAW smart guided weapon system.
    • Guided Pinaka ‐ Led the design and development of Guided Pinaka and successfully demonstrated the range and precision strike capability of the weapon system.
    • Nag and Helina ‐ Anti Tank Missile Nag and Helicopter launched HELINA missile with state of the art technologies are undergoing extensive trials in their final operational configuration. Production, Upgradation and maintenance ‐ Facilitated ToT, established production lines, steering the limited series production, continuous upgradation and maintenance of Agni, Prithvi, Dhanush, Akash and other weapon systems.
  • Development of New Weapon systems
    Analysed the current and futuristic requirements of Missiles & Guided Weapon Systems with all stake holders, new projects have been taken up and being executed to further strengthen the arsenal of Armed Forces ‐
    • QRSAM ‐ Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile flight tests are being conducted
    • Akash1S ‐ Surface to Air Missile with indigenous seeker has been successfully flight tested
    • Rudram II ‐ Air to Surface Missile with a range of upto 330km
    • Rudram III ‐ Air to Surface Missile with a range of upto 550km
    • SLCM ‐ Submarine launched Cruise Missile
    • Pralay ‐ Surface to Surface tactical Missile
    • High Power Electromagnetic Weapon for tactical applications
    • Liquid Fuel Ramjet (LFRJ) based supersonic target
    • Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) based Missile for long range Air to Air application
    • MRSAM (Army) ‐ Medium Range Surface to Air Missile for Indian Army
    • Akash NG ‐ New Generation Surface to Air Missile with state‐of‐the‐art Seeker system
    • NGARM ‐ New Generation Air to Surface Anti Radiation Missile
    • Short and Medium range Naval Anti Ship Missiles
    • SANT ‐ Stand‐off Anti Tank Missile with MMW Seeker
    • VSHORAD ‐ Very Short Range Air Defence System
    • MPATGM ‐ Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile
    • LRSAM IAC ‐ Long Range Surface to Air Missile for Indigenous Aircraft Carrier
  • Technological contributions
    • Provided necessary thrust to the indigenous R&D on state‐of‐the‐art Missile technologies to meet the requirements of various current and futuristic strategic and tactical programmes.
    • Led the development of IIR Seekers and successfully flight tested ATGM Nag, HELINA and in the maiden launch of Exo‐atmospheric Interceptor PDV Missile.
    • Led the development and successful demonstration of indigenous RF Seekers (X‐band, Ku‐band, W‐band) in BVRAAM Astra, Akash 1S, BrahMos paving the way for self reliance in critical technologies.
    • Played a vital role in indigenous design and development of state‐of‐the‐art multi mode hand grenades, plastic bullets and advanced warhead systems.
    • Steering Liquid Fuel Ramjet and Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet engine technologies for futuristic missile applications.
  • R&D in advanced technologies
    Led a number of Technology Development/Mission Mode/S&T projects delivering variety of
    Systems to multiple Projects and led R&D in the advanced technology areas to meet the future system requirements such as Navigation on chip, Seeker Processor on chip, Telemetry on chip, ultimately leading to the realization of Avionics on a Single module.
    • System on Chip (SoC) ‐ Led the development of miniaturized SoC bringing in quantum jump in miniaturization of Onboard Avionics.
    • Developed IIR Seekers based on 288x288 resolution detector and successfully flight tested in desert conditions paving the way for User trials. Initiated 640x512 resolution Seeker for HELINA, 120mm seeker for Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) and a Dual mode Seeker for Smart Bombs. IIR Seeker has also been successfully flight tested in the maiden launch of PDV Missile.
    • A compact rear servo system with electro mechanical actuators has been successfully developed and flight tested in LRSAM and MRSAM.
    • Technologies Developed ‐ Quick Reaction Solenoid Valves (QRSV), High Accuracy Accelerometers, GaAs based T/R Modules, High Speed Communication Interface for Distributed Avionics Architecture (HIDA).
    • Indigenisation of Sensors and Systems ‐ Pressure transducers, Transponders, Roller Screws, Relays, LVDTs, EMI/EMC filters, Servo Valves, Radomes, Actuation Systems.
    • Technologies Initiated ‐ IRNSS Receiver, Atomic Interferometric Gyros and Accelerometers (AIGA), Mirror based miniaturized high performance Ring Laser Gyroscopes (MRLG), Reaction Bonded Silicon Nitride (RBSN) Ceramic Radome, Hemispherical Resonating Gyroscope (HRG), Silicon Based Micro propulsion System (SBMPS), Telemetry on Chip (ToC), Micro Opto Electro Mechanical System (MOEMS), Stellar Navigation for futuristic ICBM applications, Optimised Integration technologies, Radome development for various Missile systems upto 94GHz, Advanced Power Supplies and Batteries, Highly Miniaturized Integrated Avionics.
  • Significant contributions to other Programmes
    • Nirbhay ‐ Subsonic Cruise Missile ‐ Led the design, development and delivery of mission critical Avionics for Nirbhay.
    • Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Rustom II ‐ Led the design and development of Actuation Systems, Power Supplies and Advanced Navigation System with high accuracy sensors for UAV Rustom II.
    • Combat Aircrafts (LCA) ‐ Led the indigenous development of high accuracy Navigation System for LCA programme which is currently under qualification and being further explored for installation on Su‐30MKI, HAWK, Jaguar, ALH and LUH.
    • Indian Naval Ships ‐ As Project Director, led the development of Sea‐Guard Reference System and Ship Navigation system, which made India self‐sufficient in marine navigation.
    • HSLD Aircraft Bomb ‐ Developed state‐of‐the‐art Navigation Systems for High Speed Low Drag Aircraft Bomb project of ARDE, Pune.
    • Main Battle Tank Arjun ‐ Led the development of FOG based Sensor package for MBT programme of CVRDE, Chennai.
    • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) ‐ Developed advanced high accuracy navigation system for Antenna Stabilization of Synthetic Aperture Radar.
    • Electro Hydraulic Servo Valves ‐ Steered the development and delivery of Electro Hydraulic Servo Valves (EHSV) for Space Launch Vehicles applications of ISRO, combat aircraft applications of ADA, aircraft applications of HAL, Engine Control System of GTRE & CVRDE and for hydraulic winch of SONARs of NPOL.
Why is the LRSAM IAC a separate project? Is there a new MANPAD project called VSHORAD ? :oops:

XRSAM and N-SRSAM missing from the list.
 
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I think by VSHORAD they mean replacement of mounted mobile Strela 10M systems. Maybe mounting Starstreak launchers on BMP chassis. Coz on MANPAD replacement program on DD they were mostly talking about SA24 as replacement for older Iglas.

Also interesting item on the list is SLCM project. Not Nirbhay but a seperate SLCM project.
 
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What is the use of RBSN ( reaction bonded silicon nitride ceramic radome), also wasn't this project supposed to be under NAL?
 
Ankit Kumar said:
I think by VSHORAD they mean replacement of mounted mobile Strela 10M systems. Maybe mounting Starstreak launchers on BMP chassis. Coz on MANPAD replacement program on DD they were mostly talking about SA24 as replacement for older Iglas.

Also interesting item on the list is SLCM project. Not Nirbhay but a seperate SLCM project.
Click to expand...
Hope its MANPAD, They can mount it anywhere afterward :cautious: .

Nirbhay is now an adult making family. :p

https://twitter.com/x/status/1226458812938240000
 
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_Anonymous_ said:
Any reference for the Pranash, STAR missiles ( first time I'm reading or hearing of them) as well as the Nirbhay derivatives?
Click to expand...
Go through earlier pages.
STAR is the Liquid Fuel Ramjet (LFRJ) based supersonic target in the above list

www.indiatoday.in

India developing new 200-km strike range Pranash ballistic missile

The missile would be an advanced version of the 150-km strike range Prahar missile which was being developed for tactical missions.
www.indiatoday.in www.indiatoday.in

DefExpo: Indian Navy to get new cruise missile for land-attack missions

Ankit Kumar said:
With Air launched Brahmos (500-600km) , air launched Nirbhay (1000+ km) , where does Rudra 2 and Rudra 3 Air to Surface missile fits? Are the cruise missiles? Subsonic/ supersonic?
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Brahmos-A for value targets, it's very expensive and heavy.
ALCM - Cheap, long-range, terrain hugging, loitering, but heavy in comparison (1- 1.5 ton ), subsonic turbofan engine.
Rudra - Lighter in comparison to ALCM (~500-700kg), supersonic, solid-propellant. Could even have multiple terminal guidance variants (EO/IR/RF/AR).

If Rudra-3 is hypersonic then my weight assumption could be wrong.
 
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janme said:
What is the use of RBSN ( reaction bonded silicon nitride ceramic radome), also wasn't this project supposed to be under NAL?
Click to expand...
Silicon Nitride is a ceramic material that can cut through steel like a warm knife through butter. It is an astonishingly strong material and also quite expensive depending on the production process. These kind of materials are not the ideal for radome purposes unless the missile is purpose built to penetrate hardened targets.

I am sure you can work out the rest.
 
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Gautam said:
Silicon Nitride is a ceramic material that can cut through steel like a warm knife through butter. It is an astonishingly strong material and also quite expensive depending on the production process. These kind of materials are not the ideal for radome purposes unless the missile is purpose built to penetrate hardened targets.

I am sure you can work out the rest.
Click to expand...
Can you elaborate on the last part?
 
_Anonymous_ said:
Can you elaborate on the last part?
Click to expand...
A Silicon Nitride radome would prove critical in the making of Earth Penetrator Munitions, capable of digging into deep under ground bunkers before the warhead detonation. You know, nuclear bunkers and stuff.

I've seen some models being tested in NAL's wind tunnel facility with rear grid fins, those seemed like earth penetrators to me. If we are working on such weapons then a Silicon Nitride radomes are the next logical step, this is the only new material we need for such a weapon.

All this is assuming we are making a whole Silicon Nitride based Metal Matrix Composite, preferably a W-Si3N4 based composite. If we are making a Silicon Nitride coating then coating a radome makes no sense. It will bring minimal benefits and will interfere with the guidance and navigation control systems.
 
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Ankit Kumar said:
With Air launched Brahmos (500-600km) , air launched Nirbhay (1000+ km) , where does Rudra 2 and Rudra 3 Air to Surface missile fits? Are the cruise missiles? Subsonic/ supersonic?
Click to expand...
isnt rudra m2 100-150 km range
and isnt rudra anti radiation missile? this is in its own class when compared to Nirbhay and Brahmos
 
Gautam said:
I've seen some models being tested in NAL's wind tunnel facility with rear grid fins, those seemed like earth penetrators to me. If we are working on such weapons then a Silicon Nitride radomes are the next logical step, this is the only new material we need for such a weapon.

All this is assuming we are making a whole Silicon Nitride based Metal Matrix Composite, preferably a W-Si3N4 based composite. If we are making a Silicon Nitride coating then coating a radome makes no sense. It will bring minimal benefits and will interfere with the guidance and navigation control systems.
Click to expand...

You meant this I guess , model of drdo strategic aircraft bomb which is a deep earth penetrator with lattice fins.

lattice.jpg




Deep earth penetrators are made of super hardened materials , the explosives are at the rear for protection against damage during penetration through progressive layers of reinforced concrete with embedded steel rods , reactive explosive embedded steel plates, granite rock layers etc. Multiple defences artificial and natural are the hallmarks of a HDBT.


What is needed to defeat deep underground complexes is technologies where

1. The vector has the characteristics and power to penetrate deep inside the earth without damaging itself or loosing it's penetration capabilities in the process.

2. The payload of the vector has necessary protection and resilience against damage during impact and subsequent penetration through hardened defences both natural and man-made. Incase of nukes , the design must have protection and safety features to ensure nukes assembly is kept safe and in working condition and no premature detonation takes place due to heavy impact and shocks.

3. Sensors for the vector which can survive impact and penetration rigours while have the sophistication to sense " void " . Void sensing fuzes are required for deep earth penetrators so that the payload is activated inside the underground caverns / complexes for maximum and self propagating damage.

Intelligence driven ops are needed to identify vulnerabilities in HDBTs . Also required are tools that can do topography analysis , terrain analysis , geological analysis , stratigraphy analysis to help find points of vulnerability where correct application of force can lead to over pressure in adjoining areas leading to cave in and collapse of underground caverns.


It is most interesting that India is researching diamond-SiC . Their only utility is very high deformation resistance coupled with very high hardness.

Only single crystal diamonds are known to outperform them in the same .

Even at very high speed impact including hypersonic speeds, the diamond-SiC will not deform beyond acceptable level necessary for penetration through very thick basalt rock layers.

Note : project discription is strategic aircraft bomb
So IMO possibility of it using small sized nuke as warhead is high given the priority of destroying a underground WMD complex with ZERO AMBIGUITY. Conventional explosives effects will be very much localised at site of penetration and probability of desired damage is low in a HDBT.
 
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Gautam said:
Silicon Nitride is a ceramic material that can cut through steel like a warm knife through butter. It is an astonishingly strong material and also quite expensive depending on the production process. These kind of materials are not the ideal for radome purposes unless the missile is purpose built to penetrate hardened targets.

I am sure you can work out the rest.
Click to expand...

Let me give a different perspective

What about the thermal resistance of silicon nitride , at high temperatures.

Utility of silicon nitride in radome lies in use in hypersonic missiles , where it possesses high strength / hardness at elevated temperatures that allows it to resist erosion / ablation and maintain structural integrity and resist deformation at high hypersonic speeds plus resist thermal shock encountered in hypersonic flight while allowing radio transperancy for the enclosed seeker.

Imo the silicon nitride radomes are for use in hypersonic missiles not deep earth penetrators because deep earth penetrators don't have radomes . The front and middle section of deep earth penetrators are a single piece cast of super hardened materials to ensure uniformity of very low deformation property. Warhead is in the rear or in the cavity of middle section , and navigation modules at the extreme rear.
 
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hellbent said:
Let me give a different perspective

What about the thermal resistance of silicon nitride , at high temperatures.

Utility of silicon nitride in radome lies in use in hypersonic missiles , where it possesses high strength / hardness at elevated temperatures that allows it to resist erosion / ablation and maintain structural integrity and resist deformation at high hypersonic speeds plus resist thermal shock encountered in hypersonic flight while allowing radio transperancy for the enclosed seeker.

Imo the silicon nitride radomes are for use in hypersonic missiles not deep earth penetrators because deep earth penetrators don't have radomes . The front and middle section of deep earth penetrators are a single piece cast of super hardened materials to ensure uniformity of very low deformation property. Warhead is in the rear or in the cavity of middle section , and navigation modules at the extreme rear.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Let me add a few points :

Almost all our BM re-entry vehicles use Carbon composites of some kind. Those things suffer far greater temp and wind speed than any other missile in our arsenal. Why not just use those materials for the hypersonic missile application ? Unless there is something fundamentally different. RVs are designed to hit the ground as soon as possible, limiting flight time to as low as possible. But if the need is for a hypersonic cruise missile with a far greater travel time the requirements will drastically change. Maybe that's why we need newer and better materials.

Let me go back to an old obsession of mine, sorry. The Shaurya/Sagarika missile is a very interesting weapon to me. The original version traveled at around Mach 7.5 at an altitude of 40 KM for 750+ KM. It is an odd thing, its neither a full BM nor a full CM. The Sagarika, which is essentially a re-engineered version of the Shaurya flew at a max height of 5 KM for 750+ KM at Mach 7.5 in the year 2008. A low altitude flight regime will heat up the missile a lot more, thus better materials would be needed. Clearly there is still a lot of work to do to convert the missile to a true CM, the flight altitude needs to be with in a few hundred meters not 5 KM. Maybe that's why they are going for Silicon Nitride based radomes.

What other upcoming missiles are supposed to be hypersonic ? AD-1, AD-2, Brahmos-2, HSTDV, Rudram-III................Did I miss anything ?
 
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Gautam said:
Interesting. Let me add a few points :

Almost all our BM re-entry vehicles use Carbon composites of some kind. Those things suffer far greater temp and wind speed than any other missile in our arsenal. Why not just use those materials for the hypersonic missile application ? Unless there is something fundamentally different. RVs are designed to hit the ground as soon as possible, limiting flight time to as low as possible. But if the need is for a hypersonic cruise missile with a far greater travel time the requirements will drastically change. Maybe that's why we need newer and better materials.
Click to expand...

Answer is simple

Carbon carbon composites are not radar transparent .

RVs don't have seekers / Rx/Tx modules, and they fly at very high hypersonic speeds , Mach 15+ , no point putting in a seeker even inside a silicon nitride radome because of the formation of plasma over the RV during re-entry. It will blank out all transmissions to and fro . Hence RVs are made of carbon carbon composites.
 
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Gautam said:
Interesting. Let me add a few points :

Let me go back to an old obsession of mine, sorry. The Shaurya/Sagarika missile is a very interesting weapon to me. The original version traveled at around Mach 7.5 at an altitude of 40 KM for 750+ KM. It is an odd thing, its neither a full BM nor a full CM. The Sagarika, which is essentially a re-engineered version of the Shaurya flew at a max height of 5 KM for 750+ KM at Mach 7.5 in the year 2008. A low altitude flight regime will heat up the missile a lot more, thus better materials would be needed. Clearly there is still a lot of work to do to convert the missile to a true CM, the flight altitude needs to be with in a few hundred meters not 5 KM. Maybe that's why they are going for Silicon Nitride based radomes.

What other upcoming missiles are supposed to be hypersonic ? AD-1, AD-2, Brahmos-2, HSTDV, Rudram-III................Did I miss anything ?
Click to expand...

Shaurya uses rolling motion to distribute heat evenly and disperse the same . It uses a special ablative coating which creates a bubble , sort of which reduces drag and friction inclusive of heat friction . The plasma formation at Mach 7 or so is manageable and a suitable seeker mounted inside a protective silicon nitride radome , will be able to do its job. In future if they decide to put a seeker into shaurya or k15 then the silicon nitride radomes will come into use.
 
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Project status : 70% of work on SFDR is complete. Project will be complete by 2-2.5 years.
Fuel : Boron based fuel produces around twice the specific impulse(Isp) compared to Magnesium based fuel. The target for Isp is more than 1000 sec.
Usage : Use will be for a future variant of Astra(AAMs), ARMs, AShM etc
Dimensions : Less than 4m length, less than 200mm diameter.
Platforms : Su-30MKI, Rafale, Tejas etc

 
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Gautam said:
Project status : 70% of work on SFDR is complete. Project will be complete by 2-2.5 years.
Fuel : Boron based fuel produces around twice the specific impulse(Isp) compared to Magnesium based fuel. The target for Isp is more than 1000 sec.
Usage : Use will be for a future variant of Astra(AAMs), ARMs, AShM etc
Dimensions : Less than 4m length, less than 200mm diameter.
Platforms : Su-30MKI, Rafale, Tejas etc

Click to expand...
Seeker Konsa AESA? why not build a dual mode terminal homing seeker with both FPA base CCD/IIR + AESA millimeter wave radar seeker like one on stunner missile.

images - 2020-05-08T125156.191.jpeg


images - 2020-05-08T125216.051.jpeg


Indian development agencies need to start being innovative. RF seeker won't cut it in future. Probably even US is moving towards dual AESA + IIR based solution for upcoming AIM 260 AMRAAM.
 
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