{"id":34190,"date":"2018-10-30T16:15:11","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T10:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34190"},"modified":"2018-10-30T16:15:11","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T10:45:11","slug":"indias-homegrown-nirbhay-cruise-missile-ready-for-fifth-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-homegrown-nirbhay-cruise-missile-ready-for-fifth-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"India&#8217;s homegrown Nirbhay cruise missile ready for fifth trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newindianexpress.com\/nation\/2017\/nov\/04\/indias-homegrown-nirbhay-cruise-missile-ready-for-fifth-trial-1692306.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India&#8217;s homegrown Nirbhay cruise missile ready for fifth trial<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) post two consecutive failures is all geared up for a <\/span><b>fresh experimental trial of India\u2019s first home-grown subsonic cruise missile <\/b><b><i>Nirbhay<\/i><\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">scheduled for the next week, November 7 to 9.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Preparation underway<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hectic preparations are underway at the <\/span><b>Integrated Test Range (ITR) off Odisha. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It will be <\/span><b>fifth launch<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the missile in the last five years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How will it work?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once powered by a turbofan engine, Nirbhay will be tested using a turbojet engine for the first time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DRDO scientists are expecting <\/span><b>a success<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> this time as <\/span><b>wing deployment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>navigation software problems<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, detected during the pre-launch check-ups in May which led to its postponement, seem to have been <\/span><b>rectified.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Failure of the previous tests<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of four tests so far, three have <\/span><b>failed <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as the missile had achieved partial success during the second test in 2014.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nirbhay\u2019s last trial conducted on December 21, 2016, was aborted midway as the missile changed its course.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Controversy related to the missile<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The missile project was stalled in controversy after \u2018The Express\u2019 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.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Features of Nirbhay<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nirbhay is a six-metre long two-stage missile that can strike a target from 1,000 km away.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Comparable with <\/span><b>America\u2019s Tomahawk missile<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as far as the stealth capability, it can cruise at a speed of Mach 0.8.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nirbhay blasts off like a rocket and unlike a missile it turns into a vehicle akin an aircraft.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While flying at <\/span><b>tree-top level<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it can <\/span><b>deceive enemy radars<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> making it difficult to be detected.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Designed by <\/span><b>Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and launched in 2004, the project is on an <\/span><b>18-month extension<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which expires in June 2018.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What are Cruise missiles?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cruise missiles fly at a <\/span><b>low altitude<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, mostly to avoid radar detection, and can be guided throughout its path.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They fly within the earth&#8217;s atmosphere and use jet engine technology. These vehicles vary greatly in their speed and ability to penetrate defences.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What were the problems with Nirbhay?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nirbhay was initially conceptualized to counter Pakistan&#8217;s Babur Land-attack cruise missile. During its testing, nuclear-capable Nirbhay missile has suffered several setbacks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since March 2013, three Nirbhay test launches have been classified as failures. The missile was developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the design was finalized, the technology required for the missile was developed. It was integrated by R&amp;D Engineers, Pune, a specialized arm of DRDO.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Need for a sub-sonic missile becomes important when a striking asset capable of hovering over the target becomes necessary in tactical context.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India&#8217;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\u2019s first home-grown subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay scheduled for the next week, November 7 to 9. Preparation underway Hectic preparations are underway at the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-homegrown-nirbhay-cruise-missile-ready-for-fifth-trial\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">India&#8217;s homegrown Nirbhay cruise missile ready for fifth trial<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704758900},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}