THE DAWN OF INDIAN CRUISE MISSILES PART 2 : NIRBHAY

India had always a need for long-range cruise missiles for attacking strategic and tactical targets.But India has no options rather than to develop its completely indigenous cruise missile because of missile technology control regime treaty signed by Russia also known as MTCR.MTCR blocked India from getting technologies for its long-range version of  Brahmos missile from Russia.The result of these events was the development of Indian long-range subsonic cruise missile named as Nirbahay (meaning fearless).Nirbhay is being developed as all weather multiple platforms launched cruise missile.It will see service in the Indian army, air force and navy in near future.there is a plan for the development of land attack version  launched from aircraft also known as  (ALCM), seaborne and surface launched.DRDO which is responsible for developing this missile is also planning to develop a long-range anti-ship version of the missile with the ability to be launched from aircraft, coastal launchers and ship.
                                 Nirbhay will weight around a ton with its solid stage booster.it will be high subsonic all the path, unlike Brahmos which is supersonic all the way.Nirbhay is powered by a small turbofan engine and for initial take off it uses solid stage booster.it will have better range compared to that of the Brahmos thanks to its turbofan engines, which consumes very less fuel compared to ramjet  engines.turbofan consumes a far less fuel compared to rocket engine which is conventionally used on many of the cruise missile around the world.Mid course guidance of the missile will be provided by indigenous Ring Laser Gyro Scope (RINS), which is very accurate and can work as a stand-alone guidance systems or in conjugation with satellite navigation system in hybrid configuration.The inertial navigation system of Nirbhay operates in hybrid mode for better accuracy.Nirbhay will be provided with terrain hugging navigation system which uses TERCOM.TERCOM is in development and will be tested soon by drdo, TERCOM stands for terrain countermeasures.In future, it may be equipped with a terminal active radar seeker for better accuracy.The development of the active radar seeker for the cruise missile are in development once developed, it will pave the for development of the anti-ship version of Nirbhay.Nirbhay can be armed with both conventional and the nuclear warhead.
                        Nirbhay has been tested two times till now by drdo.The first test of the missile was held in 2013 which was a partial success. According to officials of the DRDO , there was a minor fault in the inertial navigation system which causes the missile to deviate  from the path.After deviation from the path, drdo triggered the self-destruction mechanism onboard the missile.Apart from failure, the clean separation from the ejector, separation of solid stage booster and deployment of the wing was demonstrated in the first launch.The second test of the missile was taken place in October 2015 which was a copybook success according to the drdo.Missile completes its all designated parameter all the flight path and strikes the target with a very high accuracy.Drdo has claimed than Nirbhay will have a submeter accuracy and will have a range excess of 1200km.

                                                       second test of Nirbhay

                                                  video of the second launch of the Nirbhay

THE DAWN OF INDIAN CRUISE MISSILES PART 1 : BRAHMOS

BrahMos :====>

                     BrahMos is a joint venture between Indian defence giant DRDO and NPOM of Russia.BrahMos missile is developed by this joint venture.In this joint venture  India and Russia have
50.5 and 49.5%  respectively.It is an excellent example of Russian and Indian collaboration in defence and extraordinary success of BrahMos is a reflection of Indian and Russian friendship.Russia is a most important friend of India after the soviet and its collapse.BrahMos has an official  range of only 290km because of mtcr treaty of Russia.
                           BrahMos is world's only supersonic cruise missile in the service with the armed forces.It is based on the deadly P800 onix cruise missile with the considerable upgrade.Solid stage booster and liquid ramjet engine  powers the missile for a sustained supersonic flight throughout the whole path.solid state booster provides BrahMos initial acceleration for lift off at fly the missile to enough altitude and velocity so that its ramjet engine gets start.After solid stage burnout, it gets detached from the BrahMos and afterwards BrahMos is powered by its powerful air breathing ramjet engine.Ramjet engines uses ram of air for its combustion and thus does not require internal oxidizer and also it is  more efficient than conventional rocket engine thus provide a greater range and reliability.BrahMos has a 300 kg of a high explosive warhead for the antiship variant.BrahMos has many variants  with active service in the Indian navy and Indian army.Indian army has block 1, block 2 and block 3 with supersonic dive capability is in service.

ANTI-SHIP VARIANT:

   An anti-ship version of BrahMos missile is already in service with the Indian navy. there is two type of launcher of Brahmos missile on Indian navy ships, enclined launcher on ins Rajput class ships and vertical launching system on the rest of the warships.Installation of the brahmosh missile on the Indian navy warships makes them most fearsome antiship weapon system of the intire world.there is no missile with the capability to match speed, range and accuracy and reliability.None of the existing warships anti-missile defence systems can counter the BrahMos missile.Brahmos 3mach speed and sea skimming give the very little amount of time to counter it and CIWS are almost obsolete against it.Countering of Brahmos becomes almost impossible thanks to its supersonic manoeuvres around its target.There is some hope with its countering by using AWEC aircraft and detect it early and try to intercept using long-range anti-missile weapons like SM2. 

                       BrahMos' anti-ship variant has a range of 290km in the high low profile of flight and around 125 km in the full sea-skimming flight profile.BrahMos' anti-ship variant only differ from its ground attack in terms of the terminal seeker.This version uses active radar homing to identify and destroy the target in terminal phase.mid course correction is provided by GPS, GLONASS.Recently RCI imirat  a lab of DRDO has developed G3OM system which introduces a new guiding system by utilising GPS, GLONAS and GAGAN data.this system is designed to be  completely produced as a chip also called as a system on a chip.                 

                         list of Indian navy vessels armed with Brahmos:
 1.ins Rajput  -- 4 missiles
 2.ins Ranvir   -- 8 cell UVLS
 3.talwar class frigates -- 8 cell UVLS
 4.Kolkata class destroyers -- 2*8 cell UVLS