Indian Missiles and Munitions Discussion

[Gautam]

What are the chances that it will be called overweight ?!

Given the service involved is the Army there is a probability of that happening. But the Army did do trails on the Mistral & the RBS 70 as a part of the VSHORAD deal. So I guess they wont be completely out of touch with the global standards on these missiles.

One can always hope.

The drawings are not included on the public section of the website for some Limited tenders. The potential bidders are expected to email RCI to get them under NDA.

This is all a formality anyway. They probably already know which vendors will respond since it is a "Limited Tender" and shared all tender documents privately in advance. Limited tenders will only be issued to pre qualified vendors and are not available for open bidding. Likely that BEL, VEM, Astra Microwave and TASL got the Tender invitation. The vendors are probably already involved since many months in the design process and have their estimates ready.

This is a private/limited tender but the VL-SRSAM wasn't. The design for the VL-SRSAM's VLS was available in exquisite details. LOL

The vagaries of Indian defence procurement continues to amaze me.

 

[Tatvamasi]

DRDO has another missile in the making which would be shoulder fired. That will probably be a smaller/thinner/lighter version of this missile with reduced range.

Thats new info. Whats it called? any details out?

 

[Chain Smoker]

By the dimensions this missile is an analogous to the MBDA Mistral & the RBS 70, not the Igla. It is slightly bigger & heavier than both the Mistral & the RBS 70. It is going to be launched from a launch stand with the operator seated & not from the operator's shoulder. I expect the missile to have around 10-12 km range.

It seems DRDO also wants an air launched version of the missile, which will probably be the same system without the launch stand. Also they want to use it in ships. Makes sense, some our ships are armed with the Igla.

DRDO has another missile in the making which would be shoulder fired. That will probably be a smaller/thinner/lighter version of this missile with reduced range.

Delivery period from the tender:
View attachment 21244

270 days is ~9 months. If the vendor selection takes 2-3 months then RCI will receive the launcher in about a year from now. The missile should be ready by then. So we can expect the 1st firing trails in around October-November of 2022. Unless DRDO wants to do pop-out trials which can happen this year or early 2022.

The tender says that drawings of the launcher have been attached. I can't seem to find it. Does anybody have it ?

Rolling air frame type missile system for naval ships.? And it will have vehicle launched version too.

 

[Ashwin]

From Older tender:

Rolling air frame type missile system for naval ships.? And it will have vehicle launched version too.

More like this :

 

[Chain Smoker]

 

[Gautam]

Thats new info. Whats it called? any details out?

That news has been out for a while. The missile we see now was then describes as a VSHORAD & the shoulder fired version was called MANPAD. We don't have any specs yet. The MANPAD is supposed to be based on the VSHORAD & replace the Igla missile in service so expect it to be similar to the Igla in specs.

Rolling air frame type missile system for naval ships.? And it will have vehicle launched version too.

It will have similar range to the RAM but the RAM is significantly heavier (20 kg vs 73.5 kg) & more maneuverable. The VSHORAD can be used from ships against drones, helos & slow flying aircrafts but don't expect terminal interception of AShMs.

They can make a missile analogous to the RAM based on the VSHORAD.

From Older tender:

I saw that. But the pic is representative.

 

[Gautam]

TBRL is buying 8 kg of Lithium Fluoride powder for solid propellant development:

This is part of our effort to enhance solid fueled rockets. Our current solid fueled propellent have the following components :

Aluminum (Al) : Fuel
Hydroxyl Terminated Poly Butadiene (HTPB) : Binder
Poly Tetra Fluoro Ethylene (PTFE) : Activator
Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) : A very powerful oxidiser

Some munitions use a propellent with Iron Oxide (IO) as a desensitized reactant to activate a thermite reaction. Some other munitions don't have oxidisers in the propellant mix, they draw oxygen from air to burn the fuel. I have written about the reactions involved in the ramjet artillery article.

What we are trying to do now is to replace the current components with more powerful/efficient components. The enhancements we are known to be working on are :

1. Boron based fuel instead of Aluminum
2. Nitrogen doped HTPB &/or nano ferric oxide doped HTPB instead of just HTPB
3. Lithium Fluoride instead of PTFE.

The advantage of using Lithium Fluoride instead of PTFE is that it provides us the necessary fluorine gas for activation & the Lithium metal left behind is highly combustible.

 

[Gautam]

@hellbent posted this on twitter.

Looks a lot like the Nirbhay missile. There are differences though. The solid rocket booster is without its shroud. The wings seem smaller than those on the Nirbhay. The nose is conical unlike the Nirbhay's blunt nose.

 

[Gautam]

DRDL completed the Intake design for a rectangular ducted ramjet with a cruise speed of Mach 2.9. Wonder if this is for the SFDR powered Astra Mk-3 or the LFRJ powered STAR. The STAR is supposed to arrive sooner going by project timelines but that was supposed to have a max speed of Mach 2.4 not 2.9.

Here is the test stand for the intake ducts :

MVGI stands for Micro Vortex Generator & Injector. This test stand was to generate & study the moving shockwaves in the intake tube.

Control surfaces & actuator design is also probably complete:

Cr here is the length of the chord.

The fins were wind tunnel tested.

 

[randomradio]

DRDL completed the Intake design for a rectangular ducted ramjet with a cruise speed of Mach 2.9. Wonder if this is for the SFDR powered Astra Mk-3 or the LFRJ powered STAR. The STAR is supposed to arrive sooner going by project timelines but that was supposed to have a max speed of Mach 2.4 not 2.9.
View attachment 21637
View attachment 21642
Here is the test stand for the intake ducts :
View attachment 21636
MVGI stands for Micro Vortex Generator & Injector. This test stand was to generate & study the moving shockwaves in the intake tube.
View attachment 21641
Control surfaces & actuator design is also probably complete:
View attachment 21635
Cr here is the length of the chord.
View attachment 21634
View attachment 21633


View attachment 21632
The fins were wind tunnel tested.
View attachment 21631

STAR or LRLACM. More likely STAR since it seems to max out at mach 2.9, but could be governed to mach 2.4 instead. Or maybe it does mach 2.9 and they only announced it as mach 2.4.

 

[Gautam]

SFDR baby:

Interestingly the missile seems to have a pair of launch shoes. Launch shoes are used to launch a missile off the rail of the land based or airborne launcher. Given its size it is definitely meant for land based launchers for now.

The missiles seen on the 3 tests seem to have horse shoes. I though they were all launched off a guide frame, but on closer look:

This is the general configuration of the missile:

A closer look at the interstage :

Simulation of the fins controlling the missile at Mach 0.8 just after launch:

Here is an unusual design. The intakes seem to be side mounted here & have a symmetrical configuration. But the missile tested so far has asymmetrical intake set up. The fins on the tail are also placed differently. This design looks closer to the LFRJ based LRCM in many ways. May be this was one of the configuration that was tested & eventually not selected.

Also this is the 1st time we are seeing the tail end of the missile without the booster. Interesting design, I wonder if the SFDR that was tested has a similar looking tail pipe end.

 

[randomradio]

Given its size it is definitely meant for land based launchers for now.

This design is only for ground testing though. Although there should be a plan to make a SAM out of it, perhaps XRSAM Mk2, the first project is A2A.

 

[Chain Smoker]

This design is only for ground testing though. Although there should be a plan to make a SAM out of it, perhaps XRSAM Mk2, the first project is A2A.

or Air launched anti ship missile.

 

[randomradio]

or Air launched anti ship missile.

Astra?

 

[Ashwin]

Shri Rajnath Singh also inaugurated the Augmented Environmental Test facility. Transfer of Technology for TRBL-developed warhead for Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) Mk-II was handed over to Economic Explosives Limited, Nagpur on the occasion.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh visits Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory of DRDO in Chandigarh

Key Highlights: Products developed by TBRL, such as Multi-Mode Hand Grenade, reflect Governmen

pib.gov.in

 

[Gautam]

Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) Mk-II

?? What's Mk-II here ? I thought DRDO was developing only one MPATGM.

 

[Lolwa]

?? What's Mk-II here ? I thought DRDO was developing only one MPATGM.

Maybe an extended range version. Mpatgm has a range of 2.5 km which is less than the Javelin,Spike and MMP all of them having a range of 4-5 km

 

[randomradio]

?? What's Mk-II here ? I thought DRDO was developing only one MPATGM.

Likely next gen versions. MPATGM initially started off as a 3rd gen. This new one could be 4th or 5th.

 

[Chain Smoker]

?? What's Mk-II here ? I thought DRDO was developing only one MPATGM.

I think its name of the warhead not the missile since it is a TOT.

 

[Ashwin]

DRDO & IAF jointly flight test Long-Range Bomb successfully
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Posted On: 29 OCT 2021 5:34PM by PIB Delhi



Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Air Force (IAF) team jointly flight tested indigenously developed Long-Range Bomb (LRB) successfully from an aerial platform on October 29, 2021. The LR Bomb, after release from the IAF fighter aircraft, guided to a land-based target at a long range with accuracy within specified limits. All the mission objectives were successfully met. The flight of the bomb and the performance was monitored by a number of range sensors including Electro Optical Tracking System (EOTS), Telemetry and radar deployed by the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha.


The LR Bomb has been designed and developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), a DRDO laboratory located at Hyderabad in coordination with other DRDO laboratories.


Raksha Mantri, Shri Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO, IAF and other teams associated with successful flight trial and stated that this will prove to be a force multiplier for the Indian Armed Forces.


Secretary DDR&D and Chairman DRDO, Dr G Satheesh Reddy in his message to the teams said that successful flight test of Long-Range Bomb has marked an important milestone in indigenous development of this class of systems.