NIRBHAY

Nirbhay(missile):

Nirbhay is a long-range, all-weather, low-cost subsonic cruise missile designed and developed in India by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. The missile can be launched from multiple platforms and is capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads. It is under development and undergoing flight trials and have inducted into Indian military limitedly.

How it was designed?

Nirbhay is powered by a solid rocket booster for takeoff which is developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL). Upon reaching the required velocity and height, Turbofan engine in the missile takes over for further propulsion. The missile is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system indigenously developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and a radio altimeter for the height determination. The missile has an indigenously designed Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG) based guidance, control and navigation system. It also has a MEMS-based Inertial Navigation System (INS) along with the GPS system. The missile has a length of 6 metres, a width of 0.52 metres, a wingspan of 2.7 metres and weighs about 1500kg. It has a range of about 1000 km and is capable of delivering 24 different types of warheads depending on mission requirements between 200-300kg.

The missile has a loitering capability, i.e., it can go round a target and perform several manoeuvres and then re-engage it. It is able to pick out a target and attack it among multiple targets.With two side wings, the missile is capable of flying at different altitudes ranging from 100 m to 4 km above the ground and can also fly at low altitudes (like low tree level) to avoid detection by enemy radar. It will eventually supplement the role played by Brahmos missile for the Indian Armed Forced by delivering warheads farther than the 450 km range of Brahmos.

Developing trials:

The missile was developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru. ADE is a lab under DRDO. After the design was finalized, the technology required for the missile was developed. It was integrated by R&D Engineers, Pune, a specialized arm of DRDO. Indian private sector giant Tata has built the vehicle that is the carrier/launcher for the Nirbhay system and is based on an "indigenous high mobility, all-terrain and all-wheel drive TataLPTA 5252-12 X12 vehicle", developed in partnership with DRDO.

The first test flight of the missile was planned in October 2012, but the launch was postponed to

December owing to the changes being made to the launcher. V.K. Saraswat, Director General & Scientific Adviser of DRDO, later said that the missile would be tested in February 2013. He said the delay was due to development of some processes. DRDO expected the missile to be ready for induction within 12 to 18 months after the February test. There were unconfirmed media reports that the missile would be scrapped due to multiple test failures but it was then reported that the project has been given an 18-month extension, till June 2018, to fix all outstanding issues.It has undergone five trails till now.