Missile
Shaurya is a surface-to-surface tactical missile with a range of 750-km and a payload of about one ton for use by the Army and Navy. It can carry both conventional as well as nuclear warheads.
The missile range is likely to be much longer with a lighter nuclear warhead.
It has been designed as a canister stored and launched missile for use by the Army and for launch from submerged submarines.
The missile's warhead can manoeuvre to evade enemy defenses.
The solid propellant, two-staged missile is little over 10 meters in length and about half-a-meter in width.
Missile Characteristics
Shaurya is a two stage, solid fueled weapon with characteristics of both ballistic and cruise missiles. Unlike conventional cruise missile which cruise at extremely low altitudes and subsonic speeds using turbo fan engines, Shaura cruises at extremely high altitudes at hypersonic speeds using rocket power.
Its first stage lofts it to 40 km. altitude. The second stage is used for cursing towards the target while maneuvering with an aim of rendering interception difficult. During the endgame, the missile guides itself to the target.
DRDO claims the missile is capable of striking within 20-30 metres of its target after travelling 750 kilometres.
Speaking to the press at DefExpo 2010, DRDO Chief VK Sarsawat said, "Like a ballistic missile, it is powered by solid fuel. And, like a cruise missile, it can guide itself right up to the target."
Mobility
'Shaurya' can be canisterized for mobility and launched from silos making its detection and targeting in an enemy first strike difficult.
Once sealed in a canister, it can be taken to any place giving it great tactical and operational advantage. It can be deployed anywhere - in hilly terrain, desert etc. It is a relatively light, highly mobile, solid propellant fuelled missile. There is no preparation required.
DRDO will take up production of the missile as per the requirement of the services.
Shaurya Tests
Shaurya was first tested at 11.25 am on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 from Complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur.
The missile was launched vertically from an underground facility with an in-built canister.
"The missile was test fired from a 30-40 feet deep pit with in-built canister specially designed for the purpose. There was no water in the pit," a source said.
The missile flew to its target in 485 secs.
The missile uses a ring laser gyro developed by the DRDO for use on the Agni III missile.
"Since the missile is fired from underground, it cannot be detected by conventional satellite imaging," Dr. Selvamurthy said.
Shourya could get through the air defense of an adversary country because it was highly manoeuvrable, Dr. Selvamurthy said.