The DRDO SCAN seeker on Brahmos is an imaging monopulse radar seeker unlike the original Russian one. It's target discrimination capability must be close to SAR quality to allow such precision.
mark20x.blogspot.com
A 45 cm vent precision target capability requires much more higher res imaging , a very precise algo to remove the clutter around from ground and given its not hitting from side rather diving down from a height makes me doubt about the targeting part. It can definitely target, but not sure if exactly the way it is described.The DRDO SCAN seeker on Brahmos is an imaging monopulse radar seeker unlike the original Russian one. It's target discrimination capability must be close to SAR quality to allow such precision.
Feast your eyes on this
70 tests (I was tempted to write 'shades') of BrahMos
A short article decoding the BrahMos targets
Brahmos B3 is designed for steep terminal dive at 90 deg angles. The Scan seeker is hi-res IMR and since it was a fixed target, the co-ordinates would have been pre-programmed at launch (via Cartosat land elevation data, etc). Brahmos is anyway claimed to have 1m CEP.
The only issue to be considered then is whether the Brahmos has been designed for deep penetration of say > 80 feet at which depth those hardened underground shelters may have been located.
Na, even with a penetrating warhead brahmos ain't penetratiing anywhere near 80feet of concrete.
Even with the air vent opening , how far is the Brahmos designed to travel in a sheer vertical 90° angle perpendicular path ? And is there any provision for a delayed blast ?
Don't know.
Its shear kinetic impact plus the 400kgs of explosives are enough to create a blast effect in an underground facility equivalent to a mini nuke. The blast would have completely sucked out the oxygen from the structure ensuring everyone dies inside it and create a vaccum effect for the structure to collapse inwards.
It need to penetrate, idea with this type attack is after the initial penetration the blast effect do the rest of the job, that is why pcb warhead. The video of hit in test cases shown in many ppt pres, you can remember the one in Andaman with the flag and Brahmos hit. The hit without warhead showed large crate in the middle and the one with warhead pretty much distorted the entire 30m x 20m (or greater) area
Co-ordinate is not the issue, finding that vent in the terminal phase by the seeker closing in at such high speed is. I am not very sure on that. It is possible the seeker can do this precisely due to very good accurate seeker algorithm programming, which makes Brahmos so lethal.
We are forgetting that, the nur Khan base video had two detonation sounds, difference on only couple of seconds apart eachother
Penetrating the vent of such small dimensions is one part of the problem but traveling along it quite another. The vents in question are shaped like an inverted L . It's something like this
To add to the above , the IAF must've had detailed plans of the said C&C without which such precision targeting is impossible for such installations also carry dummy vents meant to misguide .Penetrating the vent of such small dimensions is one part of the problem but traveling along it quite another. The vents in question are shaped like an inverted L . It's something like this
Although this is a riser for a clean room with air diffused within the conditioned room from the bottom , air is supplied to the riser from the top. This is as close as I can get in order to pictorially depict an air vent .
You can see the protrusion at the top. Except in case of air vents those protrusions are more pronounced & look like an inverted L from the side view.
Now the Brahmos has to penetrate at an angle perpendicular to the top of the said air vent & then perform a deep dive at right angles to its entry & travel down the length of the vent before exploding at the desired depth.
How's it possible ?! I've been trying to rack my brains ever since I first came across this bit of news. The air vent being 45 & 45 cms doesn't lend itself to the kind of contortions the Brahmos would've to perform to enter the vent & then take a path perpendicular to its entry to travel the length of the air vent before arriving at the designated point where it's meant to explode.
There's something we aren't getting right here assuming the Brahmos was indeed used to blow up the underground C&C at Nur Khan Bholari & other ABs .
I'm of the impression the first strike to blow up the vents & lay it bare must have been the task of some other munition perhaps an LGB before the Brahmos was deployed to enter into the now prised open vent coz these ventilation shafts follow the principle of 2:1 where the vent we see ( the air duct essentially ) is the supply air side where atmospheric air is drawn in & supplied within the conditioned room & the surrounding space acts as the return air which is twice the size of the supply air duct from where the air within the room is expelled out to the atmosphere thus ensuring proper ventilation thru supply of fresh air within the conditioned space.
Nur Khan wasn't hit with BrahMos. The turbojet engines were very well audible. NGMMCC was the target that was hit with 2x SCALP Cruise missiles.View attachment 46122
Maj Gen Gagandeep Bakshi
More details are Coming out about Indias Hugely successful strikes on Pak Air bases.On 9 May night We hit the AD command and control(C4I) bunker in the Nur khan base near Rawalpindi. It was HDBT(...www.facebook.com
Likely to be the case. Scalp has a tandem shaped charge warhead designed specifically for bunker busting. Otoh, Brahmos has a single HE warhead afaik.
Yeah which is why I doubted the way it is described by ex forces personnel. Such a mission is far more complex and need a lot of input to plan first , then execute the same in such precise manner is definitely way more complex than just sending a Brahmos to do the job all alone. Not discounting any credit for Brahmos, just that it may not be the sole mischief maker like suggested there.
