NIRBHAY CRUISE MISSILE

The Nirbhay is believed to be 6.0 m in length, 0.5 m in diameter, and 1,500 to 1,600 kg in launch weight. The payload is believed to be around 450 kg of HE/submunitions, but a small nuclear warhead with a 12 kT yield is possible. The missile utilizes a solid propellant booster motor that is jettisoned shortly after launch. It uses a turbojet engine with a cruise speed of M0.65. The missile is guided by INS/GPS with an active-radar terminal seeker. The range is between 800 and 1,000 km. According to sources  India’s first Subsonic long range Cruise missile Nirbhay might be getting some minor updates to the missiles systems . Nirbhay missile which was first test fired by DRDO in March this year had successful 17 minutes of flight and was termed ” Partial success  before it deviated and was terminated after it dangerously came close to near by villages .No details have emerged what specific updates Nirbhay missile will be getting , it is likely that Second launch which was planned for November wasdelayed because of this and second test might take place in first quarter of 2014 . Nirbhay deviated from its flight path after it suffered malfunction inits Inertial Navigation System , DRDO has carried out Inspection of the component and has done necessary correction to the said component successfully.

Experts believe that Nirbhay might be getting some backup Hardware and also likely a software update to improve its accuracy and guidance systems . Nirbhay missile is India’s first subsonic cruise missile with 1000 km range and will serve among all three armed forces of India . After successfully induction of supersonic Brahmos cruise missile in Indian armed forces, need for a cheaper subsonic cruise missile was first felt by Indian Army .BrahMos will limited strike range of 290 and being more expensive meant it was reserved for high value and difficult to hit targets, need for cheaper and higher range cruise missile was then demanded by all three forces, which lead to development of India’s First subsonic cruise missile .DRDO plans to have Land,Ship and Air launched variant of the Nirbhay missile and there are also plans to have Submarine launched variant to be armed for INS Arihant class Nuclear submarines in future . Next test will include full 1000 km range test before user trials.