India successfully test-fires hypersonic Shourya missile

The Hindu ^

[MBT ARJUN]

India's hypersonic missile, Shourya, was successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur on the Orissa coast on Saturday. The missile rose on the dot at 2.30 p.m. from a canister strapped on to the ground, climbed to an altitude of 40 km and speed at 7.5 Mach, that is, 7.5 times the speed of sound. It covered its full range of 700 km in 500 seconds. The surface-to-surface missile performed a manoeuvre in the closing stages of its flight and hit the impact point in the Bay of Bengal with an accuracy of a few metres. A gas generator located at the bottom of the canister pushed the missile out of the canister, then its first stage ignited and fell off, and the second stage went into action. Shourya is the land-variant of India's K-15 missile which is launched under the water and is being fitted into the Navy's nuclear-powered submarine,Arihant. This is the third flight of Shourya, all of which have been successful and this flight paves the way for its production and induction into the Services. It was designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads. The missile can be used by both the Navy and the Army because it could perform various roles.

[grey_whiskers]

I deem that the missile's flight path would have to be pretty much collinear with the laser: else the angular velocity of the missile wrt the laser turret would be too high for the turret to swivel to keep up.

Question 'bout the bird : airframes are notoriously flimsy. Would the 'shrapnel' from peeling of the missile's skin upon impact with the bird affect targeting, or is the missile pretty much terminal at that point and so the angular deviation from the programmed course will be minimal?

Conservation of momentum, conservation of energy with the *bird* means the bird itself won't alter the trajectory: but the sudden discontinuity in airflow around what is left of the frame *might*.

NASA and/or the DoD used to do equation of state / CFD for hypervelocity penetrators, but that was for when they hit the target; and the airlines have done LS-DYNA birdstrike simulations on the engines; don't know if anyone's put the two together...

Cheers!

[doorgunner69]

7.5M out of the canister? I doubt that, unless fired from a cannon!

[HiTech RedNeck]

It looks from the launch picture that it’s a long straight tube with a dome, with very little possibility of striking anything airborne that is traveling at subsonic speed except on the dome. If the dome holds up to the impact, the bird will be instant vapor.

As for the laser, the control system to get it homed in on the missile and keep it pointed at the same place on the missile would not be a trivial feat of engineering, turret speed limitations or no.

[FredZarguna]

You know the old story about the bird cannon the US Air Force sold to the Brits in the 1950’s to test airframe durability against bird strikes? For the benefit of those who have not, after trying to get the cannon to work unsuccessfully for quite a while, the Brits finally sent a letter to the NATO liason saying, “we have been unable to calibrate the cannon. Chickens fired into the air frame make enormous holes at even the lowest muzzle velocity.” The USAF replied, “suggest you defrost the chickens first, there chaps.”

[doorgunner69]

When you have LOS time delay with a laser, the turret slew rate is not of much consequence I'd think. Gear grinding and mechanical vibration throwing off the beam much more of concern, as the laser HAS to have considerable dwell time to heat things up enough to matter.

And of course, what the masses not into the tactical details ignore, is the issue of being hit with a Mach+ face full of missile debris like a shotgun blast is not a desirable end game. But that is what happens if the wonder defensive weapon works as advertised...........

[HiTech RedNeck]

Well it sure reads a lot like that’s what the canister is — it’s a cannon to give the missile a very strong boost past Mach 1 (if the missile had to accelerate past the speed of sound outside of the canister, it would encounter a lot of buffeting and be harder to control). Whether the peak velocity is reached at that moment or shortly afterward (with the help of the first stage), isn’t mentioned.

[grey_whiskers]

And of course, what the masses not into the tactical details ignore, is the issue of being hit with a Mach+ face full of missile debris like a shotgun blast is not a desirable end game. But that is what happens if the wonder defensive weapon works as advertised...........

Provided the missile body remains, hmm, cohesive or coherent after the first panel is opened by the laser.

I'd call the results a "tactical mission kill" -- but if you were aiming at a carrier, would you want to take the chance that it'd be back on line in 12-24 hours and full of pissed-off airmen, with a "weapons free" directive?

(...and of course if the carrier has nukes aboard, that's a whole 'nother story.)

Cheers!

[grey_whiskers]

English certainly can boast the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. Whether that is a help to engineers and scientists, I wouldn’t know.

A large vocabulary is a #^#$! big help when the *&^@@* trial goes awry and you have to figure out what the -=%)!! went wrong...

Cheers!

[HiTech RedNeck]

Hey, there’s nothing saying this puppy can’t carry a warhead, like a nuke. It’s not just a kinetic energy bullet.

[doorgunner69]

Well it sure reads a lot like that’s what the canister is — it’s a cannon to give the missile a very strong boost past Mach 1

Unlikely, the G-loads and penalties in mechanical hardening are too prohibitive.

Trust me on that, I had a hand in the design of the GPS antennas used on the ERGM cannon fired GPS guided projectile. Not trivial. If the Indians could boost the missile up to speed without that shock, they would. No reason to deal with that nightmare otherwise...........

[HiTech RedNeck]

If this puppy can do some dodging as it homes in, it would be pretty much laserproof.

[cynwoody]

English certainly can boast the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. Whether that is a help to engineers and scientists, I wouldn’t know.

It's a help to the scientists and engineers who know English. And it's a motivation to the ones who don't. More power to the Anglosphere!

[doorgunner69]

(...and of course if the carrier has nukes aboard, that's a whole 'nother story.)

Which I am told, Bush '41 took care of, so no nukes are onboard these days. Still, a large shotgun blast of whatever size parts will seriously impair an aluminum hulled ship's ability to operate............

Back in my day, a BQM-74 took out a destroyer during an operation when the bird did not get knocked down, but continued on to lay waste to the aluminum superstructure. The drone was indeed hit, but not knocked down. Hopefully the navy learned something about the need for a bit of armor above the waterline.

[HiTech RedNeck]

An anti missile laser would want to catch this puppy as far as possible from its intended target, for obvious reasons.

[ThunderSleeps]

Speed of sound decreases with altitude.

Also, climbing to 40 km is a good feat. That's roughly 131,000 feet. Air is pretty thin up there, probably not nearly as much friction induced heating...

[Moonman62]

English certainly can boast the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. Whether that is a help to engineers and scientists, I wouldn’t know.

It is to laugh to look at the things that language chauvinists in tongues like French come up with in the technical world. If it weren’t for the mighty efforts of these chauvinists, French computer geeks would be talking about “le motherboard,” “la microprocessor” and the like.

I was brushing up on math history recently, and I was amazed at the impact that mathematical notation (the language of math) had on advancements. As an example, the notation that Newton used was rather awkward, but because he was worshiped in Britain no one dared change it, and it thwarted mathematical achievement in that country for a very long time, which allowed Germany and France to take the lead.

[MBT ARJUN]

http://knol.google.com/k/shaurya-missile#

All info about this missile is here....

[PIF]

Which I am told, Bush ‘41 took care of, so no nukes are onboard these days.
—
I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Naval Depot on Indian Island, Washington continues to store, load and unload nukes on various and sundry supply ships, at sea destinations unknown.

[Fred Hayek]

Thaqt is a “cold launch” canister. The exit velocioty is no where near Mach 1, it’s enough to get the missile clear of the launch canister. I suspect that it is so that the canister can be more easily reloaded, as well as impart a bit of kinetic enrgy to the missile before the rocket motor lights off. Hot launches do a fair amount of damage to the inside of the container - guide rails, electrical connectors. “Cold launches” were frequently implemented by the Soviet Unions, some examples being some of their second generation ICBM’s, and the SA-N-6 Grumble. India has a lot of Soviet Union(and Soviet Union derivative) military hardware.

[The Working Man]

I’m not to sure about a ‘cannon’ because a cannon type effect would tend to lead to nozzle deformation once it leaves the tube. I saw that in the ARCAS rockets and they were a low velocity rocket.

What I find interesting is that they are using the same steering method that the Titan series of rockets did. Shooting an oxidizer directly into the exhaust to increase thrust on one axis or another. You can see it in the photo, the reddish gas, I just can’t remember the name right now it’s not hydrazine or aerozine. Maybe you do?