India Goes Hypersonic: New Missile Technology May Be Answer To China’s Navy

forbes ^

[Roman_War_Criminal]

Cutting-edge hypersonic missiles could massively increase the potency of Indian Navy warships in a future conflict. India test fired its first hypersonic missile demonstrator on Monday. The test comes amid heightened tensions with China. There have been a series of clashes and shots fired on the border the same day. The rivalry between the two powers extends into the maritime domain where the rapid expansion of the Chinese Navy may soon reach into the Indian Ocean.

The indigenous Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) should prove technologies which can be incorporated into next generation weapons. This may be one way that the Indian Navy can counterbalance the Chinese Navy’s move into ant-ship ballistic missiles.

The HSTDV test vehicle has been developed by DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation). It has a short range and does not carry a warhead. An anti-ship missile using the same technology could have a range of several hundred miles. But the increased speed, relative to current missiles, may come at the expense of range. Hypersonic missiles can still have a useful range however and their speed makes them extremely difficult to counter.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

[AnotherUnixGeek]

The indigenous Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) should prove technologies which can be incorporated into next generation weapons.

When would these next generation weapons be rolled out - sometime around 2030? Meanwhile, China is menacing all of its neighbors right now - they'd do well to acquire military hardware from the US immediately.

[Little Ray]

The Indian Navy already has the BrahMos missile - a Mach 3 sea skimmer with a range of 300 miles.
What the heck does it need this thing for?

[Seruzawa]

This is nice but India could defeat China with only a few subs or cruise missiles. Aim them at oil tankers.

[Steely Tom]

Any hypersonic weapon system has to overcome a very difficult challenge, which is the plasma sheath that forms around the leading edges of its fuselage. This plasma sheath is electrically conductive, and it therefore forms an opaque shield through which electromagnetic radiation cannot pass without very substantial attenuation; this attenuation is not against a dark background, but against a very bright (incandescent, broadband) background. In terms of signal-to-noise ratio, it's a very bad situation.

This means that forward-looking target sensors, optical or radar, are practically blind.

That leaves the option of guidance from behind, as it were; guidance from third-party platform that's tracking both the target and the missile and sending course corrections to the missile in real time. This has been used before, but it is vulnerable to jamming and spoofing. At hypersonic speeds, the communication link only has to be interrupted for a few milliseconds and the intercept solution becomes unrecoverable.

I'm not saying its an insoluble problem, but it is a very tough problem.

[wbarmy]

Bingo, give that man a kewpie doll.

Besides the oil weakness, there is a single point of failure dam which can destroy a significant part of China, a railroad, power line and bridge nexus in the northern part of the country which could sever the north off for a very significant piece of time, and other structural weaknesses which could easily be taken advantage of by a canny targeteer.

It really is a paper tiger, dangerous to those who are weak, but minimally dangerous to those who can project force.

[central_va]

You sink the enemy platform BEFORE it has a chance to launch.

[libh8er]

they'd do well to acquire military hardware from the US immediately

Which they are. From what I read Trump has authorized the sale of defense equipment which was denied to them by the Hussein regime.

[freedumb2003]

If the system has Indian coders they will have to reprogram the missiles from scratch every single time any of the target, warhead or weather changes.

Can you imagine the support center?

“Hello and thanking you for calling. If your missile will not lunch, please pressing 1. If your missile launched but is not be heading to the right target, pleasing pressing 2. If your missile is homing back to you, pleasing hanging up and running like hell.

“Please press 9 to repeat these options.”

[who_would_fardels_bear]

LOL

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Wow. Thanks for the insights. Advanced technologies always seem to have at least one downside that has to be compensated for or worked around.

[TexasGator]

“Any hypersonic weapon system has to overcome a very difficult challenge, which is the plasma sheath that forms around the leading edges of its fuselage. “

Typical speeds are less than Mach 10. Plasma sheath problems become severe above Mach 16 for non-blunt bodies.

[TexasGator]

“Wow. Thanks for the insights. Advanced technologies always seem to have at least one downside that has to be compensated for or worked around.”

An insight but not a downside for this generation of hypersonic missiles.

[TexasGator]

“If the system has Indian coders they will have to reprogram the missiles from scratch every single time any of the target, warhead or weather changes.”

Obviously you have never dealt with Indian programmers.

[freedumb2003]

>>Obviously you have never dealt with Indian programmers.<<

I have dealt with and managed hundreds of them over 2 decades.

I know exactly of what I speak. Need a version of a report to add a sub-break? Indian solution: make a copy of the report and add the sub break. I have seen that multiplied by 10 and, sure enough, when a bug was found in the original, 10 reports had to be fixed (and not the same fix applied either). That is the cost if you do not micromanage.

I saw in COBOL and I saw in the proprietary language I work with since then.

[Tallguy]

Greater range, less reaction time for the defender. But there are technical problems getting hyper-sonics to actually work. Simplest way appears to be what the Chinese are using with their so-called “carrier-killer”. Shoot a large ballistic missile into a high sub-orbital arc then use an aerodymamic maneuvering descent stage to put you on the target at very high speeds. Targeting is very difficult with this approach.

[wildcard_redneck]

“If the system has Indian coders they will have to reprogram the missiles from scratch every single time any of the target, warhead or weather changes.”

I imagine that the instruction to the flying missile would read ”Deal missile, Please do the necessary.....”

[freedumb2003]

>>”Deal missile, Please do the necessary.....”<<

I actually use “please do the needful” from time to time :)

[AppyPappy]

During flight, any changes in course will have to be implemented after completion of the flight(impact)

[TexasGator]

“I have dealt with and managed hundreds of them over 2 decades.”

Then you should know they almost never program from scratch.