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Nirbhay missile has sub-metre accuracy, says DRDO ex-chief
Jeta Pillai
MUSCAT Nirbhay, India’s long range sub-sonic cruise missile, which is undergoing trials, will have sub-metre accuracy, according to Dr VK Saraswat, former director-general of Defence Research and Development Organisation, the developers of the missile.
This will give it the ability to hit a small target among multiple objects at a range of up to 1,000km. The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, with a range of 300km, has an accuracy of a few metres.
Saraswat, who is currently holder of Department of Atomic Energy’s Homi Bhabha Chair, was presented this year’s ‘Dr ASG Jaykar Award’ at Indian School Wadi Kabir as part of the Science India Fiesta 2014 that concluded on Saturday.
BrahMos, he said, will not be affected even if satellite navigation is jammed because it has a very good homing radar seeker which takes care of all mid-course errors.
About Astra, the active radar homing beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile reportedly undergoing trials using Sukhoi 30MKI fighters, he said: It is state-of-the-art, in terms of homing capability, probability of intercept and success rate of the mission. The best aircraft, whatever manoeuvrs it can make, Astra will outwit it.”
Dhanush, a ship launched version of Prithvi missile with a range of 359km, has an accuracy of less than 10m and is mainly for static targets, including those on land, said Saraswat. The missile was test-fired successfully in November 2013.
On the suggestion that India’s Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system would disturb military balance in the region, Saraswat said: “It is like any other weapon. When the number of fighter squadrons or tanks, is increased, it will also result in military imbalance.”
But, since India has a policy of no first use of N-weapons, we should have the capability to defend against a rogue N-attack. It must have the time to counter-attack and that is possible only with BMD, which can destroy an incoming missile, he added.
On the possibility of new radars detecting stealth aircraft, he said: “Already there are radars that can detect very low cross-section systems. Aircraft exhaust has infrared (IR) radiation that can be detected, therefore work is on to suppress IR radiation from aircraft. Similarly, ground radars are also becoming more potent with ‘low probability of intercept’ radars and hi-fidelity radars. Then there are passive radars or no transmission radars which only receive signatures from transmissions that are in the environment and then try to find out where they are coming from. With more signal processing techniques, radars will overcome the stealth.”
Saraswat said the level of autonomy in electronic warfare systems on fighter aircraft continues to increase and are able to decide ‘what the threat is, how to overcome it’ and how to make yourself safer against it. “All future radars and radar warning receivers will have that capability and a lot of it is happening today. In many cases missile firing is also done automatically, but
India, he said, was waiting for its first thorium-based reactor to become operational which would be a breakthrough in the effort to meet its energy needs as Kerala had very large deposits of thorium.
Saraswat said the Kaveri engine, which was originally developed for the Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’, had passed all tests and would now be used for large Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that are under development.
