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India-Pakistan

Indian Army wants 90 cruise missile TELs

2006-07-23

Indian Army hopes to become the first force in the world to field supersonic cruise missiles by operationalising the Indo-Russian 290-km range Brahmos surface-to-surface missile by September next year.

The Army has given its go-ahead for production of the land version. Army Chief General J J Singh was present when the surface-to-surface version of the missile was successfully test-fired at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan.

All the three trials of the missile to test its range and accuracy, have been highly successful and the Army has already dispatched artillery officers to Hyderabad for training to operate Brahmos, a highly-placed defence source said.

When raised, the new Brahmos missile units would be the third such missile-formations in the country. The Army, under its lone 40th artillery division, has already raised specialised groups to operate short-range 150-300 kms Prithvi missile and longer range Agni-I (700 kms) and Agni-II (1,500-2,500 kms).

Buoyed by the successful test-trials of the land version of the Brahmos, Indian scientists are now working on the advanced version of the supersonic missile with longer reach,
improved trajectory design, a touch-botton-guidance system and capability to carry miniaturised warheads.

"We are aiming for a lighter missile with a small warhead and faster speed, up to Mach 8, to incorporate scramjet technology," a senior DRDO official said.

Brahmos' biggest advantage, according to missile experts, is that if produced in large numbers it could tilt the conventional arms balance between India and Pakistan.

Though Islamabad claims to have tested its own version of cruise missiles, defence experts say both China and Pakistan have access only to subsonic version of the missile.

Artillery officers estimate that around 90 mobile autonomous launchers (MAL) would be enough for India to create a major strategic deterrence.

According to Army sources, the new Brahmos artillery missile units would be equipped with four launchers which will have the capability of firing 12 missiles simultaneously
at 12 different targets within 30 seconds.

DRDO sources said a single launcher can also be detached from the battery to operate independently to give land forces operational flexibility and make detections extremely
difficult.

Posted by:john

#11 There was a Brahmos test at Pokhran during December 2004 where the missile was equipped with special image processing software for terminal homing (allegedly DSMAC).

India has been building Ring laser Gyroscopes for years so the INS will be suitable.

GPS is probably a given since India is collaborating with Russia on resurrecting the GLONASS system, with some satellites to be launched on Indian boosters.
It is also building its own GPS variant, for the Indian ocean region.

Posted by: john 2006-07-23 21:42

#10 Thought the guidance system on the Brahmos was basic and rudimentary i.e ins not even GPS, fast but not adaptable, but then I know a little, John?

Posted by: pihkalbadger 2006-07-23 21:27

#9 Indian Army wants 90 cruise missile TELs

"And a pony!"

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-07-23 21:20

#8 All this military build up reminds me of a old friend of mine. He would build up a garage full fishing equipment but never goes fishing.

I think you've described Indian military procurement perfectly

Posted by: john 2006-07-23 17:12

#7 Thanks for the info John, I didn't know they had their own programme.

Posted by: Tony (UK) 2006-07-23 17:06

#6 I also doubt the test will be ready by 2007.

VSSC is quite busy with building the LOX/LH2 cryo stage for the GSLV rocket.
Reportedly ISRO also wants a 100-150 ton semi-cryo stage - LOX/Kerosene.
They may replace the UDMH/N2O4 second stage on the GSLV-3 with this.

The hypersonic combustor is probably way down the list.

Posted by: john 2006-07-23 17:00

#5 All this military build up reminds me of a old friend of mine. He would build up a garage full fishing equipment but never goes fishing. Indians are dying everyday due to terrorism, it's time to go fishing.

India has been working on SCRAM Jet for a while now, nothing has materialized. I don't think it ever will because it's just too expensive. The only way it can succeed is if there is a cooperative effort between multiple countries. I think the year 2007 unmanned flight is too soon. I think it will be delayed. SCRAM Jet is an old technology, it's been around since, I could be wrong, the late 60's. There is a huge difference between SCRAM Jet technology on a two-seater and passenger line aircraft for the modern age.

Posted by: Poison Reverse 2006-07-23 16:41

#4 But I think the hypersonic tech used on the Brahamos will a collaboration with the Russians.. unrelated to the hyperplane.

Posted by: john 2006-07-23 15:16

#3 No, they have a hyperplane project.

The Hyderabad-based Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) is building an 8metre technology demonstrator, which will be powered by a supersonic combustion ramjet (Scramjet) engine that takes oxygen from the atmosphere and burns liquid hydrogen.

"The ground tests of the engine would begin in 2005 and we aim to fly the unmanned aircraft in 2007," DRDL Director Prahlada told PTI in Bangalore.

DRDL is jointly working with academic institutions, including the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, besides collaborating with the Mishra Dathu Nigam (Midani) to develop high temperature Nickel-Cobalt alloys and carbon composite materials, which could withstand heat during high-speed flight of the hyper plane.

DRDL, Hyderabad has an onging programme to develop a hydrogen fuelled supersonic combustion ramjet for the hyperplane, which will be a fully reusable, single stage, hypersonic vehicle. Under a programme sponsored by DRDL, NAL has developed the technology for the design of supersonic combustors (see Figure). A direct connect supersonic combustor test facility, which is suitable for simulation of flight at Mach 6, 30 km altitude has been successfully set-up. The supersonic combustion of hydrogen in a Mach 2 airstream has been demonstrated. A novel method of achieving flame stabilisation using a cavity cascade has also been developed. This avoids placing solid obstacle flame stabilisers in the flow and also allows for distributed heat release in the supersonic combustor, thus achieving high performance. For volume limited supersonic missile applications, kerosene would be a more suitable fuel. The supersonic combustion of kerosene, aided by hydrogen, has also been successfully demonstrated. Such supersonic combustors could be employed in the proposed RBCC engine of the VSSC air breathing launch vehicle.

Posted by: john 2006-07-23 15:15

#2 "We are aiming for a lighter missile with a small warhead and faster speed, up to Mach 8, to incorporate scramjet technology,"

Scramjet technology? Would that mean they would be working with the Aussies on HyShot?

Posted by: Tony (UK) 2006-07-23 14:43

#1 Photo of the TEL vehicle - 3 missile tubes

Posted by: john 2006-07-23 14:29

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