CAN INDIA DEFEND ITSELF? THE DAWN OF PAKISTANI STRATEGIC BALLISTIC MISSILE part 1 The Threat

From the beginning of the era of development of the missiles technology, Pakistani ballistic missiles have been the pain in ash* to Indian strategic planners.Threats of strategic ballistic missiles from its naughty neighbor are increasing day by day.So the real question is that can India defend itself from this kind of growing threat which is growing exponentially? Let's try to answer this question by analyzing the threats of Ballistic missiles and capabilities of young ballistic missile defense system, which is currently in development under the aegis of DRDO.
       
THREAT:

LEVEL 0 (No Threat): In threat level-0  I would like to suggest some false threat of Paki Battlefield range ballistic missile (BRBM) threat. These type of missiles are having very short range and especially in the case of Pakistani missiles they are unguided, liquid fueled and obsolete in every aspect. However, without any hesitation, Paki media and defense spokesperson continuously keep trolling.These missiles are told be capable of carrying tactical nuclear warhead but their range is very less even they are not comparable to Indian Pinaka mark-2 version which India consider as a simple rocket.If you are thinking about what is a ballistic missile to Pakistan? If you are thinking of artillery rocket then still you are wrong because they are inferior to them also, not only in term of accuracy but also in their range too.To use these missiles in case of war with India they would need to be very close to the Indian border and I believe it will be very intimidating to Indian strike fighters like Jaguar, Mirage 2K and even to our newly crafted Tejas.So ultimately they would be destroyed before they see action in the battleground.I am not sarcastic however, I would like to announce the name of honourable contenders who comes in false threat category, so behold the first contender is .......

1.Nasr: 

Specifictions:-

 Engine: Solid Fueled Rocket Motor
 Range:  60kms(which is even lesser than Guided Pinaka(75kms))
 Launcher: Transporter Erector Launcher(TEL)

And another lucky one is

2.Hatf 1:

Specifications:-

 Engine: Solid Fueled Rocket Motor
 Range:  100kms
 Launcher: Transporter Erector Launcher(TEL).

HAL LIGHT COMBAT HELICOPTER :THE Asiatic lion

Most of the  Indian conflict vulnerable borders are surrounded by the mountains.There is a very high probability of  conflict in those high altitude areas.This anticipation was enforced by Pakistani infiltration during Kargil war in which many soldiers martyred because of non-availability of a suitable combat helicopter for high altitude.Indian air force heavy attack helicopters were not able to fight in those high altitude areas neither attack aircraft.These things lead to a need for a combat platform which can fight in extreme high altitude, that is why the light combat helicopter development program born.HAL started a development program to use the technology available that in its advanced light helicopter and use that platform for further evolve into a light combat helicopter that can really be effective at high altitude.

             Hal RWR&DC started developing light combat helicopter in 2006 and IOC is anticipated in 2016.LCH is being developed as a narrow fuselage tandem seat configuration.LCH consist of a fully digital glass cockpit in which pilot occupies the front seat and rear seat is for weapon system operator.pilot itself operate the gun turret with the help of helmet mounted sight.LCH avionics contains multifunction lcd displays, radar warning receivers, laser warning receiver and maws system.MAWS system is being provided  by SAAB of South africa. It also has countermeasure (FLIR) and electro-optical sight and targeting for fire control and are synched with helmet mounted display.with the help of helmet mounted display pilot can engage any target by just merely looking on it.LCH is equipped with data link for net-centric warfare which increases its combat effectiveness in multi-folds by sending and getting information with air platform and ground-based platforms.LCH is powered by two Shakti turboshaft engine which produces 1067 kW power individually.Shakti engine is designed and produced by Turbomeca and HAL jointly, it is also known as Ardiden 1h.Shakti engine allows LCH to operate at an altitude of 6500m with full combat load.Shakti engine also features full authority digital engine control which increases the reliability of the engine.

        LCH will be heavily armed with the various type of  weapons those will include anti-tank missile, gun mount and air to air missile etc.LCH has four wing station for weapons. It has been confirmed that DRDO developed HELINA anti-tank missile will be used for its primary anti-tank weapon.HELINA will be integrated with a dual packed launcher.HELINA is the  helicopter launch version of the Nag missile.It features a high resolution imaging infrared (IIR) seeker and effectively work in the high-temperature zones also.It has two modes of firing LOBL(lock on before launch) and LOAL( lock on after launch).IT has a range of 8 km which will provide a good standoff distance from the MANPADS which are the worst nightmare for any low flying aircraft.LCH will be armed with mistral air to air heat seeking missile and has a range of 6 km and will be primary air to air weapon for LCH.

          there are following roles can be performed by LCH

      

• Air Defense role against UAVs and slow moving aircrafts
• Destruction of Enemy Air Defence (DEAD) Operations
• Escort to Special Heliborne Operations (SHBO)
• Offensive employment in urban warfare, CSFO (Counter Surface Force Operations) and CI (Counter Insurgency) operation.
• Support of Combat SAR Operations
• Antitank role
• Scout duties

          so far HAL has produced  three prototypes of LCH

1.TD1

TD1 is the first prototype of LCH and is not weaponised.TD1 made its maiden flight in 2010.It has been extensively used for flight testing.Success  of the TD1 lead to the evolution of TD2.

2.TD2 

TD2 is the second prototype featuring a substantial weight reduction made  its first flight in 2011 and previously it was shown in Aero India 2011 with its weapon station loaded with rocket pod and four helina anti-tank missile in a digital camouflage.                                                                                                                           

3.TD3                                                                                                                                                               td3 made its first flight in 2014  and has a better-protected cockpit against ground fire and also have some improvement which were desired by Indian air force and Indian army.IT has recently completed high-altitude hot weather tail and set a record for the combat helicopter to land on high altitude forward base.A total of 65 and 114 LCH is on order for Indian air force and army.IT is revealed by Hal that LCH will be series produced from 2017.                                                       

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

FUTURE of indian navy part 5: Kalvari class(scorpion) SSK

Kalvari class submarine commonly known as scorpion or project 75 (p75) submarine is a diesel-electric attack (SSK) stealth submarine of the Indian navy, which is under construction at Mazagon dock limited.It was a part of Indian navy 30 years of the expansion plan.the tender for same was floated in 2005 and scorpion was chosen as the winner of that tender.A total of 6 scorpion subs are being constructed at Mazagon dock limited at a cost of 3 bn $ out of which first submarine ins kalvari was launched on April 6, 2015, and which will be commissioned at the end of 2016, rest of the kalwari class submarines will be commissioned on the yearly basis .Scorpion subs have modular state of the art design which will dramatically improve the capability of the Mazagon dock limited in terms of submarine construction. Scorpion is designed by DCNS of France and Navantia of Spain.It is designed to achieve a high degree of stealth with  offensive anti-sub and anti-surface weapon carrying capability.It weighs around 1600 tons submerged and can carry heavy weight torpedoes and anti-ship missiles.Scorpion has a version with MESMA AIP (air independent propulsion) which increases its underwater diving time by almost twice.
                   Indian navy's version of scorpion named as Kalvari does not have AIP, but it has a larger length than Chilean version.Brazil has also ordered scorpion with AIP which will have little more displacement than its Indian counterpart.Let's stick with the Kalvari,I t has also special features.kalwari class subs will have six 533mm torpedo launcher which can also fire Exotec anti-ship missiles.kalwari will have Black shark heavyweight torpedo which has a very large radius of action,a better counter-counter measure system which allow the Black shark to engage Target without getting confused by decoys at large ranges.SM-39 Exocet anti-shipping missile has a range of 50kms against surface combatants.SM-39 is well battle proven, very reliable anti-ship missile from MBDA which will give a edge to Indian scorpion.DRDO of India has developed an indigenous air independent propulsion system based on methanol which will produce oxygen from methanol.This AIP system will be installed on the last two of the scorpion submarine which will improve the submerging time of the Kalwari sub by many folds.This system will also be installed on the rest of the Kalwari class subs latter may be in the mid-life upgrade.

CONFIGURATION : 

        Combat system :SUBTICS

        SONAR: Long range passive cylindrical array and an active sonar

        Crew:31

        Propulsion : two diesel engine providing 1250kw

        SM-39 Exocet anti-shipping missile

        Black shark long range wire guided torpedo

INDIAN AEGIS- VISAKHAPATNAM CLASS DESTROYER (P15B)

India has recently launched the lead ship of its newest destroyer naming  ins Visakhapatnam.Visakhapatnam class destroyer will be the future aegis like destroyer of Indian navy.Visakhapatnam class under the project name p15b in earlier it was rumoured to be named as Bengaluru class but after the launch of the first ship of this class the official name of p15b is identified as Visakhapatnam.There is an order of 4 Visakhapatnam class destroyer was placed to the Mazagon dock limited out of which one ship has been already launched in April 2015. Project 15b will feature an improved mast for its main radar.Vishakhapatnam class will have redesigned superstructure and will have a significant change in a mast.It will have better roll stability and can manoeuvre at high sea and high speed.The displacement of Visakhapatnam class destroyer will be around 7200 tons, almost equal to the Kolkata class ships.The hull of  Visakhapatnam class will be same as that of Kolkata class.It can be observed that there is no major redesigning has been done which reduces the cost per destroyer and also the timeline of delivery has been shrunk.
                                   Visakhapatnam class and Kolkata class destroyer both do not use its full space available for weapons, therefore, there is huge opportunity for upgrades in future.Kolkata class has 32 cell for barak8 surface to air missile and 16 cell universal vertical launcher for anti-ship and land attack cruise missile till now it is not specified that the Visakhapatnam class will have same or more weapons as that of the Kolkata class.It may be possible that may have 32 more vertical launchers at the aft of the ship.The Chinese counterpart of the Kolkata class, Type 52D carries 64 universal vertical launchers but has the less space available for the weapon . A question arises when we compare both warships that why Indian warships are lightly armed, answer is Indian ships are definitely going to get a heavy upgrade in their weaponry and may have long-range surface to air missiles developed by DRDO.Kolkata and Visakhapatnam both carries two ASW or multi-role helicopters thus giving an edge in anti-submarine warfare over type52 destroyer of china.It will have a longer range naval gun than Kolkata class, newer will have a 127mm gun whereas Kolkata class has 76mm SRGM.

                                      schematic of p15b

Length :163m
Draught:6.5 m
Beam:17.4m
Speed:30 knots
Displacement:7200 tons

ARMAMENT:
            32 to 64 Barak8 missile
            16 cell for Brahmos or Nirbhay
            2*ASW helicopters
            127mm gun
             4*AK630 CIWS guns
             2* RBU 6000 rocket launcher
SENSORS:
             ELTA M 2248 multifunction S-band radar
             ELBIT decoys
              Thales LW 08 volume search radar
             HUMSA-NG panoramic sonar
             ALTAS towed array sonar from NPOL      
EVENT: 30/9/2015 INS KOCHI commissioned in Mumbai by Manohar Parriakr .

Future Of Indian Navy : 2.Kamorta Class Corvette

INS Kamorta is first indigenously developed anti-submarine warfare corvette by India under the project name p 28. ins kamorta is designed by the Indian navy and GSRE (garden reach shipbuilders and engineering ) has done the detailed design. Kamorta class ships will be vital for Indian navy thanks for increasing Chinese navy's increasing submarine force and mass manufacturing of newer diesel-electric and nuclear-powered subs ( SSN ) by China.It is very clear that  Indian navy is giving priority to ASW ships and submarine, therefore, there is a plan for future variant as well which may get advanced stealth features and weapon systems and eight of those are anticipated.
                       Kamorta class ships are a great stride in the indigenous development of naval ships.She has a composite superstructure providing higher strength to weight ratio and stealth characteristics.Its hull is made of indigenously developed steel.This steel was developed by dodo's material research laboratory and being produced by SAIL Bhilai plant.It was also used in the production of the first carrier made in India INS Vikrant.Kamotra incorporates more than 90 % of is its components made in India.
                      Kamorta class operate drdo developed radar name Revati. It is the naval version of the radar developed for early warning in Akash air defence system naming 3D central acuition radar (CAR).it has a range more than 200 km for aircraft size targets and have many naval mode for better performance in high seas. Its main defence system Kavach was also developed by drdo and provide all around protection by the means of decoys and countermeasures.

Design : 

Kamorta class ships are designated as corvette but she has a displacement same as the most of the frigates around the world.ins Kamorta has X-shaped hull improving underwater stealth capabilities and a stealthy superstructure made of composites this is why it is Indian navy most stealthy warship.Kamorta has CODAD (combined diesel and diesel) propulsion systems. Diesel engines are provided by France company Pielstick. Her diesel engines are raft mounted and designing of the gearbox is helped by DCNS which is also a shipbuilding company of France. Her gearbox is produced by ELCON. She has 16 cell vls system for Barak 1 and srgm oto bareda 76 mm gun mounted on the front and two rocket launchers are also placed but there is no anti-ship missile even if there is a lot of space available for  the same.she is equipped with HUMSA NG next generation panoramic sonar and will be equipped with ALTAS towed array sonar.ALTAS is currently in development phase.

Armaments :

                         2 RBU 6000 rocket launcher

                         Kavach decoy system

                         HUMSA NG  sonar

                         ALTAS towed array sonar

                         16 cell vertical launcher for Barak 1

                          2 AK 630 CIWS

                         OTO Breda 76 mm SRGM

                         2 anti sub heavyweight torpedo launcher

                         2 helicopters for anti-submarine warfare