Indian Missile News And Discussion

[Arun_S]

Just that "IF" and "WHEN" it gets an optical seeker, this is the type of accuracy one would expect.

[Arun_S]

[url="http://www.deccanherald.com/content/219439/agni-v-launch-soon-drdo.html"]Agni-V launch soon: DRDO[/url]

Chandigarh, Jan 15 (PTI) Agni-V, the 5,000-km version of the nuclear capable missile, is in the final phase of testing and is soon set for launch, a senior DRDO official said here today.



"Agni-V is in the final phase of testing. I cannot predict the exact date of its launch, but it will be launched shortly," Chief Controller R and D (Missiles and Strategic Systems) at DRDO, Avinash Chander, said.



He was addressing a press conference at the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory to mark the conclusion of its year-long golden jubilee celebrations,



Agni-V, touted as India's most ambitious strategic missile, will follow last year's test of the country's most advanced surface-to-surface missile Agni-IV.



The three-stage Agni-V and the two-stage Agni-IV are poised to add credible deterrence against countries which have missiles like the 11,200-km Dong Feng-31A, Chander said.



Agni-V will feature Multiple Independently-Targeted Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs) with each missile being capable of carrying 3-10 separate warheads.



To a question, Chander said "we have Rs 20,000 crore worth production orders for Akash missile."



"By 2020, India will be among the leading countries in the missile development," he said

Nothing earth shattering, just a jaapad of reality to some who were disparaging my Agni pages that showed MIRV configuration, as wishful thinking, and contrary to GoI intention/plan/position.

[Arun_S]

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynam...17527g.jpg



The supersonic BrahMos missile is launched from a Ranvir class ship during Naval exercise Tropex-2012 off Vishakhapatnam. Photo courtesy: Defence Ministry

[Arun_S]

[url="http://www.samachar.com/India-successfully-testfires-missile-interceptor-mcklSsaeihd.html"]India successfully test-fires missile interceptor[/url]

[url="http://frontierindia.net/indiandefence/indian-bmd-test-scores-a-direct-hit-at-15-kms-altitude/"]Indian BMD test scores a direct hit at 15 kms altitude[/url]: Frontier India

[ramana]

Hindu reports



A-V test soon

Agni V to be test-fired soon



P.Sunderrajan



It will have a range of 5,000 km and can carry a one-tonne nuclear war head



Agni V, the surface-to surface nuclear missile that is expected to give more teeth to India's deterrence programme, is likely to be test-fired for the first time in the last week of March or the first week of April from the Wheeler Island, off the coast of Odisha.



Disclosing this here on Monday, V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and Head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said the DRDO would conduct more test flights of the missile over the next one year. “This is a programme that is going on for the past two years. Another one year of testing will be involved [for fully developing the missile].”



Countries across the world have been keenly watching India's progress in developing this missile, which will have a range of 5,000 km and is capable of carrying a one-tonne nuclear war head. Weighing 50 tonnes, the 17.2-metre-long missile, with a diameter of two metres, will have three stages, all fired by solid fuel.

The picture:







Shows no fins and truss type interstage for stage separation between First and Second stages. The Third Stage seems integral to the payload section which is the truncated cone. OTH it could be the AIII for all we know!



And very clearly stated that the payload would be one tonne nuke.

[Arun_S]

I am confident that A5 and A6 size will be in line with my prediction. The payload section will change depending on MIRV confign and in which case there will be place for Small Upper Motor (SUM) for smaller MaRV and if they use original design based on A2's RV there will be no SUM.



TAMRAK007 pic is definitely for a space launcher and no possibility of Indian missile.



BTW ISRO had switched to composite faring few years ago. I had pic of the old and new faring from HAL stall in Aero-India 5 years ago.

[Arun_S]

Shourya and Sagarika (K15) range under various trajectory that I presented in this assessment 12 months ago is in line with what DRDO is now disclosing.



[url="http://www.slideshare.net/ramana_56/bgrv-and-indian-missiles-arun-vishwakarma-rev-1-c-9600008"]http://www.slideshar...rev-1-c-9600008[/url]



Look closely at Slide# 14,15, 17,30

-----------------------------------



[url="http://ibnlive.in.com/news/slbm-k15-test-likely-today/238052-60-117.html"]http://ibnlive.in.co...052-60-117.html[/url]

[url="http://newindianexpress.com/"]Hemant Kumar Rout[/url]

BALASORE: The DRDO is likely to conduct the much-awaited crucial test of submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) K-15 from an underwater platform off Andhra Pradesh coast on Sunday.



The test was rescheduled from March 4 as the communication alignment could not take place properly due to high tide in the sea. As part of the coordinated mission, the missile will be test-fired from a pontoon (replica of a submarine) positioned nearly 20 feet undersea.



An official said the cables for communication between the pontoon and a ship (makeshift control room) could not be laid due to heavy current in the sea and high tide on full moon day.



The DRDO has, in fact, prepared for twin trials of this indigenously built nuclear capable missile. The second missile will be test-fired within seven days of the trial of the first one.



The test seems crucial for India since the missile could not be tested last year even after a series of attempts. A scheduled test was deferred several times due to technical glitches in the missile



system.



The DRDO is eyeing for the success of the missile as only Russia, the USA, France, UK and China have been successful in firing nuclear tipped missiles from air, land and undersea.



Having a strike range of about 700 km, the K-15 missile is 10 metres in length and a metre in diameter. Its launch weight is about 10 tonnes. After its induction, the missile will equip the country’s first nuclear-powered submarine ANS Arihant.



A scientist said K-15 combines aspects of both cruise and ballistic missiles, which use multiple-stage rockets to exit the atmosphere and re-enter in a parabolic trajectory.

[Arun_S]

Fro recent press reports from DRDO chief on imminent launch of Agni-5, that vehicle is supposed to be 3 stage vehicle.



Now if A5 turns out to be MIRV then IMHI the last stage in the missile warhead section, would mean he is pointing to a CUSP stage.



OTOH if it is Non-MIRV, then he is most likely referring to small thrusters that are part of the MaRV.



Here is an old drawing from 200& published in IDR. See configuration Agni-3C

[Ravi]

I think above picture will not resemble the missile that is going to be tested on April 16. Because 2 things are confirmed one that the missile is carrying MIRV payload, which is 3-10 warheads as stated by Avinash Chander in some interview and secondly after Agni 4 test it is confirmed that there will be no welding part in between 2 stages (i don't know exactly what is that part is called as)



I have edited a online pic which might be almost close to what might be tested on 16th of this month.

[Arun_S]

IMHO it would be either Agni-3A or C configuration.



Will know when the fat lady sings.

[Arun_S]

Agni-V, India's ICBM, gets ready for launch



Reported by Nitin Gokhale | Updated: April 15, 2012



New Delhi: Come Wednesday and India may join a select club of countries that possess or are about to possess an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Hectic preparations are on for the launch of Agni-V missile that day from the Wheeler Island off the Orissa Coast. Designed and developed by India's Defence Research And Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists, the three-stage missile is scheduled to be launched from a mobile launcher. Also Read 'Nuclear capable Agni-V to be tested soon' With a range of 5,000 km, Agni-V, once validated and inducted into the armed forces after several more tests couple of years down the line, will be India's longest-range missile which can carry a nuclear warhead. Seventeen metres tall and 50 tonnes in weight, Agni-V's three stages are powered by solid propellants. It will have the capacity to carry a nuclear warhead weighing over one tonne, DRDO scientists have said.



The Hindu newspaper quoted Avinash Chander, Chief Controller (Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO, describing Agni-V's technology as a game-changer" for strategic options. Except the US, Russia, France and China, no other country had designed and developed this range of systems, he said. Earlier last month, DRDO chief, Dr VK Saraswat had told reporters that India will break into the exclusive ICBM club once the 50-tonne Agni-V is ready for induction by 2014-2015. The Agni series of missiles, including Agni-V, is crucial for India's defence vis-a-vis China since Beijing has upped the ante in recent times by deploying missiles in Tibet Autonomous Region bordering India. DRDO is also aiming to operationalise a Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) by 2013 and a missile shield for Delhi by 2014, Mr Saraswat said.



The K-15 SLBM is now getting ready for the final phase of induction after its two recent tests (from submersible pontoons) were successful... we have done over 10 flights of it so far," the DRDO chief said. Once the 750-km-range K-15, and the 3,500-km K-4 become fully operational, they will be inducted onto India's indigenously-manufactured nuclear submarines. The first home grown Nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, scheduled to undertake sea trials this August, will need these SLBMs to complete what is called nuclear-triad. After a rare failure of Agni III missile test is Agust 2006, the DRDO has been on a roll with the tests of the two-tier ballistic missile defence (BMD) system, designed to track and destroy incoming hostile missiles both inside (endo) and outside (exo) the earth's atmosphere, scheduled to be completed by 2013.



We will test the exo-atmospheric interceptor at 150-km altitude this year, which will be followed by an endo-atmospheric test at 30-km altitude," Dr. Saraswat said. All eyes are now on the launch of Agni V on April 18.

[Arun_S]

the Tribune

India’s most potent missile Agni V all set for launch



By Raj Chengappa



Sneak Peak: Agni V being readied for launch at Wheeler Island



In the remote Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast, the countdown has begun for the first test of India's most sophisticated and powerful ballistic missile ever built, Agni V. If all goes well, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which built the missile, is expected to launch Agni V on Wednesday, April 18, from the Island. With a planned range of 5,000 km, the Agni V will traverse 2,000 km more than any Indian missile has ever done. Wednesday's launch will see the missile first power its way to a vertical height of 500 km in the atmosphere before following a ballistic trajectory that will see it splash down in the Indian Ocean way beyond Indonesia. A commercial jetliner would take over six hours to traverse such a distance. But Agni V, travelling at 24 times the speed of sound and 30 times faster than a commercial jet, will traverse that distance in just 18 to 20 minutes. In doing so, it will become not just the longest range ballistic missile in India's strategic armoury but also its fastest. Most importantly, Agni V would put most of China's major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, within Indian missile range. Speaking exclusively to The Tribune, Vijay Kumar Saraswat, DRDO Chief and Scientific Adviser to the Union Defence Minister, said, "In terms of performance, Agni V is the ultimate step for India in terms of ballistic missile technology. It is pushing at the outer limits of the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) class." What Saraswat is unwilling to explicitly state, is that a successful test of Agni V would give India the capability of building long-range Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, ICBMs or missiles that can reach targets of 8,000 km or more. With a warhead weight of 1,500 kg (1.5 tonne) Agni V will ultimately be capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads giving it deadly strike capability. Agni V would be a significant step up from the range of Agni missiles that India currently has in its armoury. Agni I goes to 700 km and Agni II, 2000 km. Both these are primarily meant to target Pakistan, giving India a capability to strike its neighbour from any part of the country. Agni III and Agni IV are missiles in the 3,000 km class meant for China and other regional neighbours. The distance though is a limitation as these classes of missiles would be unable to strike many of China's strategic cities or locations. So the need for Agni V. Speaking exclusively to The Tribune from the Wheeler Island, where final tests are being done for Agni V, Avinash Chander, DRDO's Chief Controller R&D (Missiles and Strategic Systems), said, "There are many firsts we are incorporating in Agni V, these include two all new composite motors that would propel the missile to distances bordering ICBM capabilities." At 17 metres in height, Agni V is almost 5 stories tall and has a diameter of two meters - similar to that of the giant main sewage pipelines that are laid in most Indian cities. Agni V is short and squat as compared to India's space rockets. Almost three years in the making, Agni V is a three-stage rocket that, Chander says, has one of the most highly developed guidance systems that the DRDO has ever built to enable it to strike targets at great distance with stunning accuracy. While the first stage motor is similar to the one used in Agni III, the second and third stage motors are brand new and built of light composite materials that are being flight tested for the first time. "It reduces weight and gives the missile greater punch,'' says Chander. Though the first launch would be from a static harness at the Island, Agni V would have tremendous road mobility once it is fully developed. These include a canister launch which means that it gives India "stop and launch" capability from any part of the country. "Once we successfully test Agni V we would have broken the barrier of long range ballistic missile systems,'' says Saraswat.

[ramana]

Some quick points:

- There are interstages between the first an second and second and third stages. Its just below the band where the TEL holds the vehicle.

- No truss structure between the F/S and S/S. Means they have mastered the timing issue between separation and SS motor ignition i.e the bottle type igniter is being use for reliability. So no need for the vented structure.

-Most likely the separation is by shaped charge and not MDF type cutting charge.

- Third stage is a frustrum of a cone!

- The payload is a unitary one like in AIII and not a bus with MIRVs yet.



I haven't seen conical motors except on the Sprint ABM which made it go hypersonic in just a few secs. The conical motor has static stability and needs much less control margin.



So the T/S and RV section are traveling at very high speed but still in atmosphere.

[Arun_S]

>> So the T/S and RV section are traveling at very high speed but still in atmosphere.



1. for minimum energy trajectory, the T/S (Third Stage) does not see any atmosphere.



2. If T/S sees atmosphere it means it is indeed a BGRV.



3. What you see in the recent photo is no different from the SUM (Small Upper Motor) configuration I had shown in the Agni-3TD drawing above (the drawing in the post of 4 April above). The cylindrical SUM envisaged above fits well in the nose come when there are few MIRV sticking close to it. Just like classical MIRV nose cone package in other ICBMs. However having a conical SUM stage will indicate a long range BGRV configuration.



Jai Ho.

[Arun_S]

I have worked with NIAS before (including Rajaram Nagappa) and they use my ROCKSIM Rocket Simulator to assess Chinese and Paki missile capability.



http://www.thehindu....opinion/op-ed/a ... 325145.ece



It's a high five moment for the Agni by N. Gopal Raj



India will enhance its deterrent reach with the launch of its first intercontinental ballistic missile. However, China and Pakistan have powerful missiles of their own as well. For India, Agni V is more than just its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). With a range of over 5,000 km, this road-and rail-mobile missile can be fired from deep within the country and still reach all parts of China, especially the latter's populous and economically important eastern seaboard. The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) created Agni V by adding a third stage to Agni III, a missile with a range of 3,500 km while carrying a 1.5 tonne payload that was first successfully tested five years ago. Both Agni III and V have a diameter of two metres, making them capable of carrying several warheads known as Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV). (Agni I and II have a diameter of one metre and the first stage of the Agni IV has a diameter of 1.2 metres.) Firing MIRVs requires what is known as a “Post Boost Control Vehicle,” a manoeuvrable platform that sits atop the rocket and holds the warheads. After the missile has lofted it into a ballistic trajectory, the platform must be able to release each warhead with the orientation and velocity needed to reach its target. As India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has already demonstrated the ability to put multiple satellites into orbit in the course of a single launch, developing a Post Boost Control Vehicle should be technologically straightforward. However, developing compact nuclear warheads could be a significant hurdle in acquiring MIRV capability. Published information on U.S. systems suggests that each re-entry vehicle will need to weigh less than 500 kg. First generation missile-borne nuclear warheads typically weigh twice as much. India now has a range of nuclear-capable Agni missiles in its arsenal, starting with Agni I that can strike targets 700 km away. These missiles use solid propellants and can therefore be launched at short notice. They are also carried on mobile launchers, making it more difficult for an enemy to locate and destroy them. In China and Pakistan But India's nuclear-armed neighbours, China and Pakistan, have powerful missiles of their own. China's strategic forces still rely heavily on ballistic missiles using liquid propellants. Its first missile, the “Dong Feng 1” (DF-1), was a copy of the Soviet R-2 missile, and relied on technology and designs provided by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. The next missile, DF-2, was designed to be capable of landing a nuclear warhead on Japan. The country then went on to build more advanced ballistic missiles, still using liquid propulsion, which also became the basis for its Long March launch vehicles. These include the DF-3, the DF-4 and the DF-5. China switched to solid propulsion when it developed its first submarine launched ballistic missile, the “Ju Lang 1” (JL-1). The land version of the missile was designed as the “DF-21.” A more powerful, solid propellant missile, the DF-31, is now beginning to be deployed. The submarine version of the missile, the JL-2, will be carried aboard China's new Type 094 Jin-class nuclear-powered submarines, the first of which was launched in 2004. “China is progressively replacing its older liquid-fuelled DF-3 and DF-4 missiles with the new solid-fuelled two-stage DF-21 missile,” according to a 2010 assessment prepared by the International Strategic and Security Studies Programme at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Bangalore. Although it was within China's capabilities to equip the DF-31 with MIRVs, there was no clarity on whether this had actually been done, the assessment noted. Official U.S. sources have maintained that as the country was developing this capability, its DF-31 and all variants of that missile were currently equipped with only a single warhead. A 2007 report from the NIAS group pointed out that China has deployed the DF-3, the DF-4 and the DF-21 missiles in bases in the Qinghai and Yunnan provinces. From those locations, these missiles would be able to reach all of India. Pakistan, for its part, has produced a range of missiles using a mix of imported technology and indigenous capability. Improving on sounding rocket technology supplied by the French company, Sud Aviation, to the Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), it developed the Abdali (also known as Hatf-1). But the missile is estimated to have a range of only about 100 km. Its Ghaznavi missile, which can carry a nuclear warhead, is a shortened version of China's M11 solid propellant missile supplied by the latter in the 1990s. Ghauri, which uses liquid propellants, is based on North Korea's No Dong missile. The technology for this missile was imported by the A.Q. Khan Laboratories, which provided uranium enrichment technology to the North Koreans. The range of this missile has been put at about 950 km with a 1,000 kg nuclear warhead. China also appears to have supplied the technology for the solid propellant M9 missile, with the Pakistani version being called the Shaheen-1. The NIAS team believes that the Shaheen-2, which was first tested in March 2004, has involved a second stage being added. The missile would then have a range of 1,200 km compared to 730 km for its predecessor. If so, large parts of India, including places as far south as Hyderabad, would be within its reach. But the range estimated for the Shaheen-2 assumed that it has a diameter of one metre, notes Rajaram Nagappa, who heads the strategic studies group at NIAS. But it was difficult to accurately estimate the diameter from publicly available images of the missile. If, as some reports suggest, the missile has a diameter of 1.4 metres (the same as China's DF-21), then its range would be considerably greater. “Though constrained by the availability and production of uranium, Pakistan has a credible deterrent structure in place that would be largely organised around the Shaheen-1 and -2 missiles,” according to the NIAS 2010 assessment.

[Bharat_2009]

"However having a conical SUM stage will indicate a long range BGRV configuration"



it says it all !!



Can Agni V be called as Hypersonic Boost or Ballistic Glide Missile like Agni IV (land version) and K4 (Sea version)?

[Guest]

[url="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/19/india-missile-idUSL3E8FJ1KZ20120419"]UPDATE 1-India tests long-range missile; capable of reaching China[/url]

A scientist at the launch site said the launch was successful, minutes after television images showed the rocket with a range of more than 5,000 km (3,100 miles) blasting through clouds from an island off India's east coast.



"It has met all the mission objectives," S.P.Dash, director of the test range, told Reuters. "It hit the target with very good accuracy."



The Indian-made Agni V is the crowning achievement of a now-mothballed missile programme developed primarily with a possible threat from neighbouring China in mind.

[Arun_S]

Good job DRDO team.



Few observations:



1. The RV (I.e the black body in front) definitely got maneuvering fuel. Its likely a hybrid performing both as MaRV and BgRV.



2. IMHO DRDO tested this flight to prove necessary propulsion stage for MiRV confign. Meaning the upper stage will be cylindrical rather than conical.



3. To be useful even in non-MIRV confign, the conical stage must be made of carbon composite case to bear one of the Hi Q regime (temperature).



4. As far as payload is concerned. Indian MIRV will see 150-200Kt warheads weighing ~300 Kg.



5. IMHO India will soon test full yld TN. Successful test will double/triple Indian missile warhead count overnight, and also quadruple deliverable yield. Such is the effect of high yld warhead availability on available firepower that a given number of missile bring to bear on adversary. Imaging how many fewer Arihants are required (I.e. cost to build and maintain deterrence)

[Arun_S]

http://drdo.gov.in/whatsnew/AGNI%20A5-01.wmv

http://drdo.gov.in/whatsnew/AGNI%20A5-02.wmv



Surprising to see that first stage burn time is 90 seconds, as against my expectation of 55 seconds. Indicates that DRDO has figured out realization of squeezing high density into available F/S volume. Something that French did only few years ago for their sub launched missile.

[tijojose]

Arun, we miss you at BRF. When will you be able to do an analysis on this launch?