It is common knowledge now that India's long-range cruise missile Nirbhay had to be aborted and the missile destroyed midair in accordance with range safety rules last Friday.
The literal reason the flight had to be aborted was due to the failure of its guidance system developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI) at Hyderabad. The missile had traveled a distance of 128-km but could not take the required turn at the waypoint and instead nose-dived. It was then put on the self-destruct mode. The failure analysis is underway. Missile guidance control law especially the one used in Nirbhay (Deviated Pursuit Technique) is one of the most complex technologies to master.
This failure will push the missile's operational clearance every further.
The land-attack cruise missile has been under development for a decade now and is designed to be launched from air, land or sea. It has a top speed of Mach 0.7 and is configured to fly at low altitudes to avoid enemy radar detection, and also has “loitering capabilities” to identify battlefield targets.
The third failed test is particularly bad news for India’s INS Arihant. The indigenous SSBN was scheduled to test-fire the Nirbhay this month, but it is unclear whether the test will proceed now. The setback is critical to the success of India able to field a weapon which has extended range.
The other weapons being developed with a similar role, though not a cruise missile, is the K-15 Sagarika (K-Series of Missiles) Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) with a range of around 700 km. This would mean that a vessel has to move in closer to enemy shores making it vulnerable to detection and possible attack.
The second weapon in the strategic K series of SLBM's is the K-4 which has a range of 3,000 km. The twelfth and final development trial of the missile missile was tested from a pontoon submerged 30 feet deep in January 2013. Once operational, this SLBM will form a crucial leg of India’s nuclear triad, and also the most credible and hardest to detect. The longer range K-4 will complement the shorter range K-15.
Nirbhay’s with a range of over a 1,000 kilometers makes it a more suitable weapon for the INS Arihant, and stealth being the fundamental attribution to an SSBN will then not be compromised. In other words, Nirbhay gives the submarine enough standoff distance to fire while remaining hidden deep in the Indian Ocean, or within territorial waters.
Therefore, the success of Nirbhay as one among the nuclear delivery systems will give a significant boost in the completion of India's objective to complete an effective Nuclear Triad deterrence. It is worthy to note, that the purpose of having a three-branched nuclear capability is to significantly reduce the possibility that an enemy could destroy all of a nation's nuclear forces in a first-strike attack; this, in turn, ensures a credible threat of a second strike, and thus increases a nation's nuclear deterrence.
The literal reason the flight had to be aborted was due to the failure of its guidance system developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI) at Hyderabad. The missile had traveled a distance of 128-km but could not take the required turn at the waypoint and instead nose-dived. It was then put on the self-destruct mode. The failure analysis is underway. Missile guidance control law especially the one used in Nirbhay (Deviated Pursuit Technique) is one of the most complex technologies to master.
This failure will push the missile's operational clearance every further.
The land-attack cruise missile has been under development for a decade now and is designed to be launched from air, land or sea. It has a top speed of Mach 0.7 and is configured to fly at low altitudes to avoid enemy radar detection, and also has “loitering capabilities” to identify battlefield targets.
The third failed test is particularly bad news for India’s INS Arihant. The indigenous SSBN was scheduled to test-fire the Nirbhay this month, but it is unclear whether the test will proceed now. The setback is critical to the success of India able to field a weapon which has extended range.
The other weapons being developed with a similar role, though not a cruise missile, is the K-15 Sagarika (K-Series of Missiles) Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) with a range of around 700 km. This would mean that a vessel has to move in closer to enemy shores making it vulnerable to detection and possible attack.
The second weapon in the strategic K series of SLBM's is the K-4 which has a range of 3,000 km. The twelfth and final development trial of the missile missile was tested from a pontoon submerged 30 feet deep in January 2013. Once operational, this SLBM will form a crucial leg of India’s nuclear triad, and also the most credible and hardest to detect. The longer range K-4 will complement the shorter range K-15.
Nirbhay’s with a range of over a 1,000 kilometers makes it a more suitable weapon for the INS Arihant, and stealth being the fundamental attribution to an SSBN will then not be compromised. In other words, Nirbhay gives the submarine enough standoff distance to fire while remaining hidden deep in the Indian Ocean, or within territorial waters.
Therefore, the success of Nirbhay as one among the nuclear delivery systems will give a significant boost in the completion of India's objective to complete an effective Nuclear Triad deterrence. It is worthy to note, that the purpose of having a three-branched nuclear capability is to significantly reduce the possibility that an enemy could destroy all of a nation's nuclear forces in a first-strike attack; this, in turn, ensures a credible threat of a second strike, and thus increases a nation's nuclear deterrence.
