[url="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-successfully-testfires-underwater-missile/article4350553.ece?homepage=true&css=print"]http://www.thehindu....=true&css=print[/url]
The photos and launch video clearly indicate it is the K15 Sagarika a variant of Shourya.
Some news report inadvertently spill out the true range of this missile (not the oft quoted 700km reports) as 1500 km.
Pallav Bagla NDTV mentions seeing teh missile trajectory whereby it goes up and down and up again. Its the classical porpoise maneuver that this hypersonic Cruise Missile is capable of doing.
My observations:
1. This missile test was done for the classic hypersonic CM where missile stayed in atmosphere all the way. Range was 700Km.
2. One can clearly see the booster separation just few seconds after liftoff.
3. See the small boats near launch point, compare it with missile length of ~ 10 meters.
As I have shown earlier the missile can also fly ballistic and resume CM on re-entry with minimal re-entry load, and that range is well in excess of 700km (pure CM ) range, expected to be at least 1900 km.
See page 14 and 15 of this PPT that I shared with some friends couple of years ago.
[url="http://www.slideshare.net/ramana_56/bgrv-and-indian-missiles-arun-vishwakarma-rev-1-c-9600008"]BGRV and Indian missiles - Arun vishwakarma, rev 1 c[/url]
Quote:India successfully test-fires underwater missile - Y. Mallikarjun, T. S. Subramanian
India's underwater K-15 (code named B05) missile piercing the waters of the Bay of Bengal after it was launched from a submerged pontoon off the Visakhapatnam coast, on Sunday. Photo: DRDO India on Sunday successfully test-fired the underwater ballistic missile, K-15 (code-named B05), off the Visakhapatnam coast, marking en end to a series of developmental trials.
In its twelfth flight trial, the 10-metre tall Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) lifted off from a pontoon, rose to an altitude of 20 km and reached a distance of about 700 km as it splashed down in the waters of the Bay of Bengal near the pre-designated target point.
According to scientific advisor to the Defence Minister V.K. Saraswat, the missile was tested for its full range of 700 km and the mission met all its objectives. He said the impact accuracy of the medium range strategic missile was in single digit.
With the completion of developmental trials, the process of integrating K-15 missile with INS Arihant, the indigenously-built nuclear submarine, will begin soon. As many as 12 nuclear-tipped missiles, each weighing six tonnes will be integrated with Arihant, which will be powered by an 80 MWt (thermal) reactor that uses enriched uranium as fuel and light water as coolant and moderator.
India is only the fifth country to have such a missile -- the other four are the United States, Russia, France and China.
Meanwhile the reactor has been integrated with the submarine and it was expected to go critical in May/ June 2013. Once that was done, the harbour trials will begin.
Besides Arihant, three other nuclear-powered submarines were being constructed -- one at Visakhapatnam and two at Vadodara. India is also developing K-4 missile with a range of 3,000 km.
The photos and launch video clearly indicate it is the K15 Sagarika a variant of Shourya.
Some news report inadvertently spill out the true range of this missile (not the oft quoted 700km reports) as 1500 km.
Pallav Bagla NDTV mentions seeing teh missile trajectory whereby it goes up and down and up again. Its the classical porpoise maneuver that this hypersonic Cruise Missile is capable of doing.
My observations:
1. This missile test was done for the classic hypersonic CM where missile stayed in atmosphere all the way. Range was 700Km.
2. One can clearly see the booster separation just few seconds after liftoff.
3. See the small boats near launch point, compare it with missile length of ~ 10 meters.
As I have shown earlier the missile can also fly ballistic and resume CM on re-entry with minimal re-entry load, and that range is well in excess of 700km (pure CM ) range, expected to be at least 1900 km.
See page 14 and 15 of this PPT that I shared with some friends couple of years ago.
[url="http://www.slideshare.net/ramana_56/bgrv-and-indian-missiles-arun-vishwakarma-rev-1-c-9600008"]BGRV and Indian missiles - Arun vishwakarma, rev 1 c[/url]