At the speed of 0.7 mach, Nirbhay subsonic cruise missiles to defend LAC

New Delhi, Oct 01: India is set to induct the Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile into the Indian Army and Navy.

This would be done after the 7th trial which is scheduled for next month. The 1,000 kilometre rocket booster missile has a single shot kill ration of more than 90 per cent. The formal induction of the missile was cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council headed by Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh.

Sources tell OneIndia that a limited number of missiles have already been moved to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), where India is locked in a tense standoff with China.

India on Wednesday successfully test fired the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos having a range of around 400 km, officials said. The BrahMos cruise missile travels at a speed of Mach 2.8, nearly three times that of sound.

The test firing of the missile was carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) off the coast of Balasore in Odisha, the officials said.

BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russian joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms.

The Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile travels at a speed of 0.7 mach. It has not terrain hugging and sea skimming capability which helps it to avoid detection.

The sophisticated missile with a strike range of 1,000 km was test launched from a specially-designed launcher last year. Powered by a solid rocket motor booster, 'Nirbhay' missile with a turbo-fan engine is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system.

After the missile achieves designated altitude and velocity the booster motor is separated and the torfan engine automatically switches on taking over further propulsion, a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist associated with this project said.

He said that mid-way in its flight, missile's wing opens up by the commands generated by the sophisticated on board computer for stabilising the flight path.

The missile was tracked with the help of ground based radars and it's health parameters were monitored by indigenous telemetry stations by team of professionals from DRDO's ITR and LRDE (Electronics & Radar Development Establishment).

The maiden test flight of Nirbhay held on March 12, 2013 had to be terminated mid way for safety reasons due to malfunction of a component. However, the second launch on October 17, 2014 was successful.