India’s homegrown Nirbhay cruise missile ready for fifth trial

India’s homegrown Nirbhay cruise missile ready for fifth trial

Context

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) post two consecutive failures is all geared up for a fresh experimental trial of India’s first home-grown subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay scheduled for the next week, November 7 to 9.

Preparation underway

• Hectic preparations are underway at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off Odisha. It will be fifth launch of the missile in the last five years.
• Concluding checks of the missile sub-systems are on and hopefully the missile will be ready for test in the coming two days. A team of experts are monitoring the launch preparations.

How will it work?

• Once powered by a turbofan engine, Nirbhay will be tested using a turbojet engine for the first time.
• DRDO scientists are expecting a success this time as wing deployment and navigation software problems, detected during the pre-launch check-ups in May which led to its postponement, seem to have been rectified.

Failure of the previous tests

• Of four tests so far, three have failed as the missile had achieved partial success during the second test in 2014.
• Nirbhay’s last trial conducted on December 21, 2016, was aborted midway as the missile changed its course.

Controversy related to the missile

• The missile project was stalled in controversy after ‘The Express’ raised doubts on its outcome prior to third and fourth trials since it was pushed for test with faults in the flight control and navigation software.

Features of Nirbhay

• Nirbhay is a six-metre long two-stage missile that can strike a target from 1,000 km away.
• With a diameter of 0.52 metres and wing span of 2.7 metres, it weighs around 1,500 kg and can carry warheads up to 200 kg.
• Comparable with America’s Tomahawk missile as far as the stealth capability, it can cruise at a speed of Mach 0.8.
• The Nirbhay is a land attack cruise missile armed with a 300-kilogram warhead capable of reaching speeds of 0.6-0.7 Mach, and designed to be launched from air, sea, and land.
• Nirbhay blasts off like a rocket and unlike a missile it turns into a vehicle akin an aircraft.
• While flying at tree-top level it can deceive enemy radars making it difficult to be detected.
• Designed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and launched in 2004, the project is on an 18-month extension which expires in June 2018.

What are Cruise missiles?

• Cruise missiles fly at a low altitude, mostly to avoid radar detection, and can be guided throughout its path.
• They fly within the earth’s atmosphere and use jet engine technology. These vehicles vary greatly in their speed and ability to penetrate defences.

What were the problems with Nirbhay?

• Nirbhay was initially conceptualized to counter Pakistan’s Babur Land-attack cruise missile. During its testing, nuclear-capable Nirbhay missile has suffered several setbacks.
• Since March 2013, three Nirbhay test launches have been classified as failures. The missile was developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru.
• After the design was finalized, the technology required for the missile was developed. It was integrated by R&D Engineers, Pune, a specialized arm of DRDO.

Conclusion

• Even after India and Russia agreed to dobule the range of BrahMos to 600 kilometres, there is a need for a cruise missile with higher range.
• Need for a sub-sonic missile becomes important when a striking asset capable of hovering over the target becomes necessary in tactical context.
• This is something that BrahMos cannot do. Cruise missiles need to approach the target with stealth and must possess terrain hugging ability to go under the radar and hit the target with precision.
• Pakistan has tested its Babur series of cruise missiles successfully (as it claims). It has a range of over 700 kms and its Babur 3 variant was last tested from a submarine on January 9, 2017.