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The matter isn't as complicated as it looks.
The top dog of Indian ABM will be the S-400 which can only track incoming warheads at Mach 15 or below. Above that speed the S-400 radar cannot track any target.
The kill altitude of S-400 for a warhead coming in at Mach 15 or below is 60 kilometre. The interceptor is only fired when the incoming warhead is at 60 Km altitude, so that the missile has enough fuel to do the high speed maneuvering. Also at that altitude the incoming Warhead also starts losing speed due in denser atmosphere and friction.
There option of MIRV or even MREV isn't for Pakistan as it locks up too many precious warheads on one missile and if the one missile fails or gets neutralized along with that a considerable percentage of your nuclear warheads are gone.
Playing around with the REENTRY vehicle Is the way to go.
A shaheen 2 rises to about 350 Kilometres and then barges down towards target, and hits atmosphere at around 90 Kilometre altitude while traveling at Mach 13. Thats two mach numbers inside the limit at which S-400 can start tracking it.After that it starts slowing down as atmospheric friction takes over.At the timfe ofddetonation it may be at Mach. 5
As apogee increases,so does the reentry speed. For example a minuteman 3 missile rises to an altitude of 1300 km and has reentry speed of Mach 48.
If Shaheen 2 is fired at Lofted trajectory, say apogee at 500+ kilometre, then the warhead will have more time to free fall in the vacuum of space and accumulate speed?
From that apogee it will enter atmosphere at speeds higher than Mach 15 and although S-400 radar will detect it,but won't be able to track it until it is at much lower altitude, by which time due to air friction it would have slowed down to a speed at which S-400 can track it and hit it. But by that time it will be too late and not enough time for interceptor missile to reach the target warhead. Or that is the theory.
Shaheen 3 already splashes down at higher Mach numbers than what S-400 can track and has a smaller warhead which has less surface area for air friction and for radar waves to bounce, so it may already be safe.
There is another more complicated way involving MREV, but I am tired of writing this length comment which I am not sure why I bothered to write, so will write about 2D MREV concept later.
The top dog of Indian ABM will be the S-400 which can only track incoming warheads at Mach 15 or below. Above that speed the S-400 radar cannot track any target.
The kill altitude of S-400 for a warhead coming in at Mach 15 or below is 60 kilometre. The interceptor is only fired when the incoming warhead is at 60 Km altitude, so that the missile has enough fuel to do the high speed maneuvering. Also at that altitude the incoming Warhead also starts losing speed due in denser atmosphere and friction.
There option of MIRV or even MREV isn't for Pakistan as it locks up too many precious warheads on one missile and if the one missile fails or gets neutralized along with that a considerable percentage of your nuclear warheads are gone.
Playing around with the REENTRY vehicle Is the way to go.
A shaheen 2 rises to about 350 Kilometres and then barges down towards target, and hits atmosphere at around 90 Kilometre altitude while traveling at Mach 13. Thats two mach numbers inside the limit at which S-400 can start tracking it.After that it starts slowing down as atmospheric friction takes over.At the timfe ofddetonation it may be at Mach. 5
As apogee increases,so does the reentry speed. For example a minuteman 3 missile rises to an altitude of 1300 km and has reentry speed of Mach 48.
If Shaheen 2 is fired at Lofted trajectory, say apogee at 500+ kilometre, then the warhead will have more time to free fall in the vacuum of space and accumulate speed?
From that apogee it will enter atmosphere at speeds higher than Mach 15 and although S-400 radar will detect it,but won't be able to track it until it is at much lower altitude, by which time due to air friction it would have slowed down to a speed at which S-400 can track it and hit it. But by that time it will be too late and not enough time for interceptor missile to reach the target warhead. Or that is the theory.
Shaheen 3 already splashes down at higher Mach numbers than what S-400 can track and has a smaller warhead which has less surface area for air friction and for radar waves to bounce, so it may already be safe.
There is another more complicated way involving MREV, but I am tired of writing this length comment which I am not sure why I bothered to write, so will write about 2D MREV concept later.
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