Bharat Rakshak

ramdas

Stationing SSLVs at a fixed strategic location makes more sense because it would make mating with a payload easier. In any case, it would be prudent to keep some SSLV units at standby (silo?) and mated with imaging, and communication+navigation satellites or even co-orbital anti-satellite satellite...

ramdas

https://www.jansatta.com/blog/k-4-missile-nuclear-warhead-capability-within-sea/1219010/

This news item seems to indicate that the K-4 was indeed successfully tested on Nov 8. Do not know how reliable it is.

ramdas

One very interesting that was confirmed was that SSLV was designed to be launched from a mobile platform. So, it is a strategic launcher as well. By strategic launcher are you referring to dual use as a long range BM ? But a 34 m length seems to make it unwieldy either as a long range BM or a mobil...

ramdas

Do we have the ability as of now to produce high strength carbon fibres (T-700/T-800/T-1000) in quantity? That would be required if we needed to make efficient solid motors with high chamber pressure. Saurav Jha once tweeted that the reason for sticking to steel motor casings for first stages was la...

ramdas

The cyclone passed some 200 km east of Vizag. Areas close to Vizag do not seem to have had high winds/rain on Nov. 8. In any case, no news of any K-4 test has come soon after that test (except maybe for the first time in 2014). The only other news of a K-4 test was in 2016, when Hemant Rout wrote so...

ramdas

Do'nt know whether they will be able to carry out the K-4 test given the cyclone that is building up in the bay of bengal...Hope the test does not get delayed too much.

ramdas

The reason I asked is that I have often seen NAVAREAS issued 3-5 days before tests. Should'nt shipping have a harder time clearing out of an area than flights, that too when these are standard areas for which we have issued warnings in the past ?

ramdas

Is it a good idea to be discussing these NOTAMs on a public forum? OTOH, I do'nt know why GoI does not release them much later, say, 3 days or so before the actual test.

ramdas

@gaurav.p: 1) Neither nukes nor this are for compellence. They are for deterrence. Are you also saying that our going nuclear was the wrong decision ? TSP was anyway going to go nuclear. What if they were the only power in the subcontinent with nukes ? 2) It serves our purpose to accelerate the stra...

ramdas

@tsarkar:

What about the possibility of a shootdown with no deaths? After all, two Paki pilots are supposed to have bailed out. What if they both survived ? Then covering up the F-16 shootdown by clearing the wreckage is easy for the Pakis.

ramdas

Haridas wrote:Even the earliest design was three large RVs (similar to A2 RV in wt & size). From discussions with those who were involved & mattered.

For A-5 ? Or for A-3 ?

ramdas

@SSridhar: The K-4 test in 2010 was a pop-up test. Not a full flight test. Regarding the award for K-4 development, the clincher would be if no award for A-5 development has been given out until now. The fact that the head of the K-4 team is now DG Missiles ain DRDO suggests that the K-4 developmen...

ramdas

News reports only point out 3 K4 tests (March 2014 and 2 in March-April 2016 to a shorter 700 km range). A news report from Dec. 2017 stated that a 4th K4 test that was to happen was a no launch owing to some electrical issues (we can never know if this is true or false). There are no other reports ...

ramdas

This interview indeed seems to indirectly confirm that the K-4 is operational. The satellite images put up by @Prasannasimha (from DFILITE on twitter) also seem to show one missile at the centre of each launch tube (unlike the 3 that would be there if it was the K-15). So, the K-4 may well be operat...

ramdas

Depends on what `cap' means. From the article it sounded as though it meant being satisfied with a handful of single warhead A-5's and K-4's. That sort of minimal deterrent will rapidly lose credibility once PRC deploys ABMs (and one has to take into account PRC's ability to mass produce such things...

ramdas

Apparently an MRIS with multi object tracking capability is required for MIRV testing. At least that is what France uses a similar ship for. Given that ISRO made a multi object tracking radar only recently, lack of something like this may have also been a reason why we havent tested MIRV payloads so...

ramdas

@ramana: the MM III has a ~300kt yield warhead. Leave that aside. DF-41 ~150kt x 10. That is not the point. Point is that even though the operational config. has 10 MIRV, 2 MIRV tests were conducted for experimental purposes (probably to prove a basic PBV/RVs combination before going in for tests of...

ramdas

It is also important to demonstrate Mirv payloads to prove the Pbv and rvs. Waiting to do this until a physics package is tested would cause further delays

ramdas

The minuteman iii used a 3 MIRV payload. The Df-41 was initially tested some yrs ago with 2 mirvs. This was of course, not the operational configuration: 6-10 mirvs. Paki ababeel seems to have 3 warheads. Do they have a miniaturized high yield physics package?

ramdas

@haridas: what is stopping the demonstration of MIRV tech by DRDO? Political constraints even under Namo or is there still some tech. development to be done before it is ready?

ramdas

@ramana: Not all A4 tests came with picture releases. Also, Lt. Gen. V. K. Saxena wrote in his article about the Agni series that the purpose of developing A4 after A3 was MIRV tech. It sounded like total nonsense when Iread it that time. Now I am not so sure...Ultimately, we can at best speculate.

ramdas

@Ramana: I too saw suggestions from Nitin Gokhale that the recent A-5 test was more than normal (some twitterati hint at MIRV). The current A5 seems to have too narrow a third stage to be MIRV capable (unless they have decided to put some completely untested highly miniaturized warheads on it). MaRV...

ramdas

@haridas: can you explicitly spell out the cost of a new nuclear test? What sanctions can we expect in this eventuality ? As far as I can see it, we only stand to benefit by breaking this straitjacket. Sanctions have no meaning when they are sought to be used to prevent us from securing core nationa...

ramdas

@haridas: Why is there no way to break out of the `self imposed moratorium' ? All we lose is the nuclear deal. Russia will continue supplying us nuclear plants, given that it itself is under sanctions. Full scale sanctioning of such a large economy is too disruptive for the world at large. Didnt hap...

ramdas

@Karthik S: even the item about the Agni-5 ejection test in the DRDO newsletter talks of Agni-5 and `65 ton canisterized missile'. Given that Agni-5 is 50 tons in mass, the 65 tons can only refer to mass including the canister. Here, the item is a rotation-cum-resting fixture with a payload of 70 to...

ramdas

So the 70T payload includes canister. Probably for A-5 or a variant of that system.

ramdas

@Indranil: The 3.2m appears to be the width of the platform. That is reasonable if it is a trailer. The canister diameter will be much less than that. I am guessing 2-2.5m, going by the image given. Indeed, if the payload within the canister is upto 70T, that appears to be for a MIRVed missile. Ques...

ramdas

@Indranil: Does the 70 ton payload of the rotation cum resting fixture mean payload contained inside the canister or payload including the mass of the canister ? If the second option is correct, this may just be for the A-5 canister (or for a marginally heavier A-5 variant that is approx. 55 tons or...

ramdas

A lot of misinformation could be doing the rounds to subvert our relation with Russia and push us into a US alliance. The problem with a US alliance is the constraints it would put on our nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Plus other political baggage such as ``human rights", ``free hand t...

ramdas

It could be that the stratfor people are ``trolling". However, a careful assessment of TSP's nuclear buildup is required. If strategic nuclear superiority erodes on our side, the massive retaliation doctrine indeed loses credibility and space opens for use by TSP of tactical nuclear weapons. Th...

ramdas

Now these journos from The Hindu says INS Arihant is yet to sail. Manu Pubby said otherwise. Who is to be believed? The riot act should be read out to these anti-nationals: no baseless reporting on such a sensitive topic. Any violation should lead to serious consequences: police custody, etc. at the...

ramdas

How are we to be sure that what Manu Pubby wrote on the K-4 test is correct ? GoI has kept this program under wraps, with no announcement ever of any test (though NOTAMS for this come and go). Plus The Print is Shekhar Gupta's fiefdom: everybody knows what agenda he has. In early 2017 there were exp...

ramdas

@haridas: the sslv payload is 500-700 kg to 700 km SSO. I believe the stated payload is from SHAR. If so, the capability of this LV is not that far behind the Minotaur IV. Note that the Minotaur IV has a 1000 kg payload to 700 km SSO from sites where there is no requirement for a dog leg maneuver. F...

ramdas

@haridas: is'nt the conical motor in A-5 inherently optimum for a single warhead payload and inefficient for MIRV payloads ?

ramdas

Haridasji, 1) Understood. The large single warhead payloads appear to be something not tested in 1998 (maybe a smaller version of these was tested). Boosted fission weapons would expend fissile material unless they are sloika type... 2) Ultimately what is required is the ability to destroy every PRC...

ramdas

@haridas: I would agree that A-5 was never meant to be MIRV. Are you saying that India would never develop MIRV when even TSP is doing the same ? Deterrence would never be credible down the line without MIRV (even if it is today). If only 25 kt fission weapons are to be used, why the large 1500 kg p...

ramdas

@K^2: the NAVAREA warning for Jan 19 was removed after the A-5 test. So, nothing else was tested. Just a canisterized A5 with a single warhead.

ramdas

@K^2: how do you know that this A5 test is an MIRVed test ? You were saying that it would be a K5 rather than A5 test. Any MIRVed test would have some people with ''inside sources" writing about it sooner or later, like such people did for recent PRC MIRV tests.

ramdas

why is the media being allowed to leak all sorts of sensitive information that helps our adversaries ? Time these journalists face serious consequences for their treason. at the very least they should be arrested and their release should be made very difficult...

ramdas

Hope they test the K-4 soon after the defect is corrected and not wait for 10 more months. Rapid all up testing is better than overdoing simulations etc. North Korea’s recent successes show this clearly. A lot of time has already been lost between January (when a scheduled test did not take place) a...

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