Nuclear-capable Dhanush missile successfully test-fired

[Scorpion666]

BALASORE (Odisha): India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile from a naval ship off Odisha coast on Saturday.

"Strategic Forces Command (SFC) successfully tested the Dhanush missile today from a naval ship," said MV K V Prasad, Director of the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur near Balasore.

The surface-to-surface Dhanush, a naval variant of India's indigenously developed 'Prithvi' missile, was test fired at around 11.10am from a location at Bay of Bengal by the SFC of the defence force.

The single-stage, liquid propelled Dhanush has already been inducted into the armed services and is one of the five missiles developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), defence sources said.

"The trial was conducted by the SFC of the Indian defence force in co-operation with DRDO," a defence official said.

Dhanush missile is capable of carrying conventional as well as nuclear payload of 500 to 1,000 kg and hit both land and sea-based targets.

 

[Zeeshan S.]

How many times has this missile Dhanush been tested before?

Is it operational yet?

 

[Capt.Popeye]

How many times has this missile Dhanush been tested before?

Is it operational yet?

Its development testing program is completed. This was part of "User Trials and Training" which is carried out regularly.
Its in Operational Status:

The single-stage, liquid propelled Dhanush has already been inducted into the armed services

 

[OrionHunter]

It would have been better to have had a solid propellant instead of a liquid propelled Dhanush. I wonder if that's being considered?

In spite of solid fuel rockets having lower specific impulse, they are much easier to store and handle than liquid propellant rockets. High propellant density makes for compact size as well. These features plus simplicity and low cost make solid propellant rockets ideal.

I wonder if there's a plan to convert them to solid fuel instead? Especially since the missiles would be stored on ships, posing a risk if the missiles are powered by liquid propellents.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

It would have been better to have had a solid propellant instead of a liquid propelled Dhanush. I wonder if that's being considered?

In spite of solid fuel rockets having lower specific impulse, they are much easier to store and handle than liquid propellant rockets. High propellant density makes for compact size as well. These features plus simplicity and low cost make solid propellant rockets ideal.

I wonder if there's a plan to convert them to solid fuel instead? Especially since the missiles would be stored on ships, posing a risk if the missiles are powered by liquid propellents.

That is the Next-Gen K series of missiles under development. Solid-fuelled, more compact, canistered among other improvements. This is Gen.1 waiting to be replaced. In the meanwhile training continues on these.

 

[notsuperstitious]

I've come to realize every time the govt says they tested a dhanush or prithvi, we can only be certain a missile was tested, that's all. For example, how many times Sagarika was tested before it was made public?

 

[illusion8]

I've come to realize every time the govt says they tested a dhanush or prithvi, we can only be certain a missile was tested, that's all. For example, how many times Sagarika was tested before it was made public?

K15 was tested 10 times - the 11th time was what was publicized.

 

[notsuperstitious]

K15 was tested 10 times - the 11th time was what was publicized.

Yes and treaties with other countries means we have to tell people something, it can't be hush hush without breaking the treaty!

 

[confound thinker]

It would have been better to have had a solid propellant instead of a liquid propelled Dhanush. I wonder if that's being considered?

In spite of solid fuel rockets having lower specific impulse, they are much easier to store and handle than liquid propellant rockets. High propellant density makes for compact size as well. These features plus simplicity and low cost make solid propellant rockets ideal.

I wonder if there's a plan to convert them to solid fuel instead? Especially since the missiles would be stored on ships, posing a risk if the missiles are powered by liquid propellents.

Dhanush can be used in an anti shipping role as well since it is liquid fuelled,therby giving it more controllability and maneuverability during its flight which would have not been possible had it been solid staged.


N-capable 'Dhanush' successfully test-fired

Indian Navy on Saturday created another milestone in its on-going strategic programme with the successful flight testing of nuke-capable surface-to surface ballistic missile 'Dhanush' from a naval warship off the Odisha coast.

The trial termed as 'training exercise' was conducted at about 11.10 AM from an undisclosed location in the Bay of Bengal in between Paradeep and Gopalpur. The test was carried out by the Navy personnel while the DRDO provided all logistic supports to track its flight path.

Defence sources said the ship-launched Dhanush missile was test fired during its final operational configuration from a warship anchored somewhere about 45 km offshore Puri. Another warship provided all essential supports for the test. It was the 10th test of the anti-ship missile.

Speaking to 'The New Indian Express' Director of Integrated Test Range (ITR) MVKV Prasad said the mission was fantastic. "It was a user trial and has met all the mission objectives. All the events occurred as expected and were monitored by the range sensors. It test was 100 percent successful," he said.


'Dhanush', the indigenously developed naval version of the 'Prithvi' ballistic missile has a striking range upto 350 km and can carry single warhead, conventional or nuclear up to 500 kg.

The entire flight path of the missile was smooth in accordance with pre-decided coordinates. The mission parameters like elevation, trajectory, azimuth, flight path and stage separation were rightly validated.

Developed by the DRDO under its ambitious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), the missile is about 8.53 metres in length and 0.9 metre in diameter besides its launch weight about 4.4 tonnes. This single stage missile uses liquid propellant and can be used as an anti-ship weapon as well as for destroying land targets depending on the range.

The missile maintained its intended trajectory before plunging down the sea. The test launch was tracked from its take-off to impact point through an integrated network of sophisticated radars and electro-optic instruments for data analysis. All the mission sequencing events occurred as expected.

Dhanush is under production after its successful completion of developmental trials and it has already been inducted into the Armed Forces. The ministry of defence had made elaborate preparations for the test. A cautionary notice was issued to aviators and mariners to keep away from the area of splashdown in the sea.
N-capable 'Dhanush' successfully test-fired -The New Indian Express

 

[Water Car Engineer]

I've come to realize every time the govt says they tested a dhanush or prithvi, we can only be certain a missile was tested, that's all. For example, how many times Sagarika was tested before it was made public?

K15 was tested 10 times - the 11th time was what was publicized.

No, it was publicized as far back as 2008.

India test-fires N-powered water baby K-15

It's just that the last test(before production) was publicized with video and images.

 

[Sergi]

@Capt.Popeye @gambit If I am not wrong only Iran is known to have Ship based Ballistic missile apart from IN. And few forum and off-forum discussions suggest that US is taking that threat seriously as 100% interception of such missiles fired from close range (1K-3K) is not possible.

1. How bigger is ship launched BM threat ???
2. Is it really a good idea to have a BM on board when you have similar range SLBM ??? ( Indian case ) what about modern electronic monitoring and Sat monitoring that can pick up such BM away to easily ???

 

[Firemaster]

Any chance these Prithvi/Dhanush missiles tests are done to test new technologies?

 

[gambit]

@Capt.Popeye @gambit If I am not wrong only Iran is known to have Ship based Ballistic missile apart from IN.
And few forum and off-forum discussions suggest that US is taking that threat seriously as 100% interception of such missiles fired from close range (1K-3K) is not possible.

1. How bigger is ship launched BM threat ???
2. Is it really a good idea to have a BM on board when you have similar range SLBM ??? ( Indian case ) what about modern electronic monitoring and Sat monitoring that can pick up such BM away to easily ???

The advantage of any ship based weapons system, be it ballistic missile or aircraft or even infantry, is mobility and uncertainty of locations. So any weapon that is ship based, the initial reaction will always be of high threat classification. Then after more in-depth technical analysis, which would lead to feasible tactical utility if any found, the threat classification would either remain high or downgrade to some degrees.

For example...If Grykestaldadknstan say it has sub launched ballistic missile targeting the US, our initial response would be to take that declaration seriously. Then after our subs trailed Grykestaldadknstan's subs for a while and found it noisy enough to be background music in a rap song, we would downgrade that threat accordingly.

Both land and ship based ballistic missiles have their tactical utilities. Land based have the inherent protection from territory as well as being able to be mobile inside that territory. Ship based are more vulnerable but able to present threats to the enemy much closer to its home territory, forcing reallocation of defenses and attention. And the reduction in threat distance reduces the effects of countermeasures. It is possible to intercept but the odds of that decreases as threat distance decreases, and even US take that seriously.

 

[Sergi]

The advantage of any ship based weapons system, be it ballistic missile or aircraft or even infantry, is mobility and uncertainty of locations. So any weapon that is ship based, the initial reaction will always be of high threat classification. Then after more in-depth technical analysis, which would lead to feasible tactical utility if any found, the threat classification would either remain high or downgrade to some degrees.

For example...If Grykestaldadknstan say it has sub launched ballistic missile targeting the US, our initial response would be to take that declaration seriously. Then after our subs trailed Grykestaldadknstan's subs for a while and found it noisy enough to be background music in a rap song, we would downgrade that threat accordingly.

Both land and ship based ballistic missiles have their tactical utilities. Land based have the inherent protection from territory as well as being able to be mobile inside that territory. Ship based are more vulnerable but able to present threats to the enemy much closer to its home territory, forcing reallocation of defenses and attention. And the reduction in threat distance reduces the effects of countermeasures. It is possible to intercept but the odds of that decreases as threat distance decreases, and even US take that seriously.

Thanks for reply.
In short if Iranian ships camping in international water just outside US border is bigger threat than XYZ SLBM or BM fired from 4000-5000km. I though its vice versa.