a very good article on LR-Sam..
India & Israels Barak SAM Development Project(s)
Barak is a supersonic, vertically-launched short range air defense system, with an operational range of about 10 km/ 6 miles. That pushes it past the standard ranges of shoulder-launched options with naval counterparts, like the MBDA Mistral/SIMBAD or Saab Boofors RBS-70, but short of other small vertical launch options like the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow. Its closest western competitors on the international market are probably Raytheons horizontally-fired Amero-German RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile, and MBDAs flexible Crotale VT-1/NG. Key attributes include a compact 8-cell vertical launching system that weighs just 1,700 kg, coupled with an equally compact 1,300 kg fire control system. This makes it easier to instal in small ships, and to retrofit into older vessels.
Barak-1 reportedly in service with at Israel, Chile, India, Singapore, and Venezuela external link.
India bought over $300 million worth of these missiles as a substitute for the indigenous but long-delayed Trishul (Trident) missile project, and Barak systems now equip many of the ships in Indias Navy. The missiles fast response time, effectiveness against missile threats, and compact size are considerable assets, but they are currently offset somewhat by its short range.
Barak 8
Barak 8 display
(click to view full)
The Navys Barak-NG/ LR-SAM project aimed to give the missiles a much longer reach, with the intention of making it Indias primary naval SAM. The project was later renamed Barak 8. According to Defense News, the project features funding from American military aid dollars, as well as Indian cooperation and private/governmental funding in Israel. An Israeli source, on the other hand, has told DID that the USA has no claim on the Barak-8′s intellectual property. DID has been unable to verify he exact situation; but if the USA has no IP or significant American-made components in the Barak AMD system, it would have implications for both procurement funding sources and export policy.
The Barak 8 missile reportedly extends its range to 60-70 km/ up to 42 miles, thanks to a dual-pulse solid rocket motor whose second pulse fires as the missile approaches its target. This ensures that the missile isnt just coasting in the final stages, giving it more than one chance at a fast, maneuvering target.
The missiles most important feature may be its active seeker. Instead of forcing its ship or land-based radar to paint/illuminate its target at all times, the Barak 8 can be left alone once it is close to its target. This is an excellent approach for dealing with saturation attacks using older ship radars, which can track many targets but illuminate just a few. Its also very useful for land-based systems, which will survive longer against enemy anti-radar missiles (ARMs) if they can turn themselves on and off to confuse enemy seekers, without worrying that they will lose all of their effectiveness.
That kind of performance vaults the Barak 8 past widespread options like the RIM-162 ESSM, or entires like VL-MICA on land. Though the Barak-8 may compete globally with those systems, a better comparison would be naval missiles like Raytheons SM-2 Block IIIA and MBDAs Aster-15, or land-based options like the Patriot. The Barak 8′s active seeker would even give it a performance advantage over the SM-2, and corresponds more closely to the SM-6 currently in development. One wild card is the Baraks potential use in a point defense role against ballistic missiles, a role that can be played by some of its more advanced competitors on land or sea. This capability is implied in the land-based systems name, but has not been discussed publicly or validated in publicly announced tests.
The naval Barak-8 reportedly maintains its principle of using compact launchers and systems. Reports regarding its range vary from 70-120 km. Its ancillary capabilities will always depend on the radar and combat system aboard its ship.
The land-based Barak 8 Air and Missile Defense (AMD) system includes several components:
RAFAEL supplies the Barak-8 interceptor missile, which remains vertically launched.
The battle management, command, control, communication and intelligence center (BMC4I) is produced by the MBT Division of IAIs Missiles, Systems, and Space Group; it offers both stand alone operation for a single fire unit, and joint task force coordination (JTC).
IAI ELTA Systems Ltd. supplies the Land-Based Multi-Function Surveillance, Track & Guidance Radar (LB-MF-STAR), a rotating S-band digital Active Electronic Steering Array (AESA) Radar System that can deliver an accurate, high quality arena situation picture, and extract low radar cross section targets like stealthy cruise missiles, even in the toughest environmental conditions. The naval MF-STAR is expected to be part of Israels next-generation missile frigates.
In Israel, the Barak-8 is slated to equip its next-generation frigates, and may find its way to other roles. India expects to field the missiles on land and sea. Beyond those 2 countries, export prospects beckon for a missile that may offer a value-priced naval alternative to Raytheons Standard-2 and MBDAs Aster-15.
India has 2 different programs that could use the new longer-range Barak missile. The naval Barak-NG, or LR-SAM deal, was the first. Signed in 2006, its worth INR 26.06 billion (about $591 million at then-conversion) as of December 2009.
Indias Navy has decided as a matter of policy that it will only mount medium-long range surface-to-air missile systems on future warships, as opposed to depending on short range systems that might protect a ship, but dont offer layered defense for the rest of the fleet. This was an early sign of its transition to a more of a blue water navy that can reach into high-threat areas, and a logical complement to Indias establishment of a serious carrier force beginning with INS Vikramaditya (ex Admiral Gorshkov external link).
Hence the 2006 Barak-NG naval agreement, which gives India an upgraded version of a familiar system, extends Indias technological capabilities, fosters economic ties and integration at sub-component levels, and helps the Israelis build a new system that meets some of their own emerging requirements. The new system would reportedly have a range of 50-60 km.
Making that happen required some loosening of bureaucratic constraints on Indias defense industry. Based on projections of need and the high cost of air defense systems, Indias Ministry of Defence began initiatives under which Indian state-owned agencies can forge joint co-development and co-production ventures with foreign companies. The rationale is that under these partnerships, much of the underlying technology will remain in India. Israel has risen to become one of Indias largest defense industry partners, and may be on its way to surpassing Russia as Indias largest partner.
That rise, Indias previous positive experiences with Barak, and the opportunity to help develop new technologies instead of buying them, all led India toward Israel for its next-generation naval SAM partnership.
Israel Aerospace Industries will be the key partner, and will contribute most of the applicable technology, just as Russia did for the BrahMos by offering its SS-N-26 Oniks missile as the base platform. 2011 Barak-8 materials show Indian firms contributing the dual-pulse rocket motor, associated motor arming/safing mechanisms, and the pneumatic actuation system. On the other hand, India Defence reports that IAI and its Israeli partners have agreed to transfer all relevant technologies and manufacturing capabilities to India.
Land-Based: MR-SAM
SAM_SA-3 Goa
SA-3
(click to view full)
The Barak-8′s follow-on project involves a land-based system, intended to replace old Russian systems. Most reports place MR-SAMs desired capabilities at 70 km/ 42 mile range effective range, with 360 degree coverage, plus the ability to engage multiple targets simultaneously. As The Times of India external link put it, in 2007:
The project is crucial because, as highlighted by TOI earlier, there are still many gaping holes in Indias radar network and the armed forces only have near-obsolete air defence units like Russian Pechora [DID: upgraded SA-3], OSA-AK [DID: SA-8B, scheduled for interim upgrades external link], and Igla [DID: SA-16 shoulder-fired] missile systems.
Sources peg the MR-SAM project as an extension of the ongoing DRDO-Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) project, launched in January 2006 at a cost of $480 million, to develop a supersonic 60-km Barak-NG (new-generation) missile defence system for Navy.
India Defence and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz also reported that MR-SAM would be an extension of work done on the Barak-NG deal, and this seems to be the general consensus.
SAM SA-8
SA-8
(click to view full)
The DRDO Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be the prime developer for the MR-SAM project, which will reportedly have a Rs 2,300 crore (INR 23 billion, about $445 million at signing in 2009) indigenous component within an estimated Rs 10,075 crore (INR 100.75 billion, about $1.95 billion at signing) total. The 4-5 year project aims to provide Indias military with 9 advanced air defense squadrons, each with 2 MR-SAM firing units. Each MR-SAM unit, in turn, would consist of a command and control center, an acquisition radar, a guidance radar, and 3 launchers with 8 missiles each.
MR-SAMs total would therefore be 10 C2 centers, 18 acquisition radars, 18 guidance radars, and 54 launchers, armed with 432 ready-to-fire missiles. Some reports have placed total missile orders as high as 2,000, which would add a significant reserve stockpile to replenish missiles in any conflict.
Indian sources estimated a 4-year, $300 million System Design & Development phase to develop unique system elements, and produce an initial tranche of the land-based missiles. As of its approval by the Cabinet Committee on Security in July 2007, MR-SAM surpassed the BrahMos project in size, and may be the largest joint defense development project ever undertaken between India and any other country.
more here......
India & Israels Barak SAM Development Project(s)
