Pralay or Prithvi?
A Ballistic missile. An SRBM made for short distance 400 km. Prithvi?
Given that the starting velocity & altitude were not zero at first I thought it must be an air-launched weapon of some kind...but starting off at Mach 5.5 and altitude of ~100,000 ft ???
That doesn't make any sense.
Yep its an optimised gliding trajectory from the apogee point (ie the max altitude gained after booster burnout). So it is more of a custom algorithm model based trajectory optimisation method that you can implement in various missiles guidance system in OBC, be it surface or air launched for a specific range constraint ie upto 300-400km. Based on this optimisation, your regular vanilla ballistic article can be flown like a hypersonic glide weapon or like mimicking flight path of a very high speed cruise missile across multiple altitude level (and also implement waypoint navigation with other technique) as compared to flying in predictable parabolic/elliptical flight path. Range extension possible as much as 25-30%.
Rudram 2 R3 and other aeroballistic future missiles will also have various programs inbuilt based on this model that will optimise the flight path like that which is absolute nightmare for any AD system to track and lock onto. This technique is more of universal mathematical model that would be implemented for a specific range engagement case. When a missile flies along such optimal trajectory, the max range can be extended without changing general aerodynamic config or addition of extra fuel/motor stages , but rather by prioritising specific control parameters like total flight time, angle of attack, velocity of missile, flight height , flight path angle etc in the program.
Usual method of flight trajectory optimisation technique is either via direct method where mathematical programming like this will make a pure ballistic article fly like a real timecontrollable glide missile. Or via indirect method based on optimal control principle involving two point boundary value solution which is more extensive programming dependent.
Rudram 2 R3 and other aeroballistic future missiles will also have various programs inbuilt based on this model that will optimise the flight path like that which is absolute nightmare for any AD system to track and lock onto. This technique is more of universal mathematical model that would be implemented for a specific range engagement case. When a missile flies along such optimal trajectory, the max range can be extended without changing general aerodynamic config or addition of extra fuel/motor stages , but rather by prioritising specific control parameters like total flight time, angle of attack, velocity of missile, flight height , flight path angle etc in the program.
Usual method of flight trajectory optimisation technique is either via direct method where mathematical programming like this will make a pure ballistic article fly like a real timecontrollable glide missile. Or via indirect method based on optimal control principle involving two point boundary value solution which is more extensive programming dependent.
No need to fixate on the apogee point, that point is the starting point where the glide phase control laws kick in pre programmed or via datalink.
Apogee point is not fixed because , you can maneuver your missile across all phases of flight including post launch
( hence great drdo quote maneuverable across all flight regime phases) from ground after certain height control actuation kicks in, from air also the same. One reason why the control surfaces are retained in all our missiles. That 30km alt point is not the tip of a ballistic parabolic curve at all.In short enemy ad asset be like chacha apun praan bancha
This is an academic article.
Don’t confuse it for some real missile. This is an algo which can be used my many articles.
Pralay has a much higher burnout speed and terminal vel. So pls don’t confuse it with Pralay.
K5 have a dia of 2.4 m.
Whether K5 can go onboard present Arihant class is debatable. Most likely not.
There’s silo based K5 though. To be launched from land.
Now do your calculations.
After this years of trials.
Don’t know when IAF will be ordering Saaw in quantity.
Trials after trials after trials.
How exactly do you think path planning , trajectory optimization and control law algos are conceptualised, written, verified and then implemented after several hundred times model simulation runs via super computing facilities ? It is why I said this is a general model where by choosing a specific parameter as primary constraint, trajectory planning is done.
Given different parameters are in the equation , hence by varying the primary constraint, various trajectories can be shaped accordingly and implemented via algo. This can be seen in the poster itself. The OBC has a library of the programs stored and user chooses which one is suitable for a specific mission, prior ground checkout simulation is also run on the basis of it.
EO SAAW , due to import dependence need various testing as RCI has only just supplied tot for their IIR tech, dome mfg etc and similar goes for the EO level tech too. If we had very good industry base within the country , this would not have been an issue. But here you do trials for various things, first during development phase with imported stuff then if desi alternative is there in future again qualify the same. Actual integrated article test is very costly so you have to plan accordingly. Now the actuators , dsp modules, batteries various other critical stuff keep getting changed or replaced hence many testing. SAT-SAAW BDL has delivered some numbers for inventory so other version will also come.
It can't be pralay, it has velocity of mach -6 at point of impact,
It's definitely not pralay
as mentioned its sort of universal glide trajectory optimization under a specific altitude constraint that is max 30 km and in this case by implementing this model program the flight vehicle will be able to cross certain distance within a 400km range given the initial kinetic thrust provided by velocity of 1800-1850m/sec that is peak velocity. Convert it and you get peak 5.5 mach. That is dead giveaway.
Flight vehicle like this also has 2 phases of flight usually, boost phase and glide phase. This above I posted is for the glide phase only. Boost phase has already happened before (and not shown on graph) and due to this the FV has velocity of peak 5.5mach at the apogee of 30km altitude. Now guess
But in the last graph, the velocity does decreases when it's coming near to the point of impact, decreasing from 2000m/s to under 600m/sas mentioned its sort of universal glide trajectory optimization under a specific altitude constraint that is max 30 km and in this case by implementing this model program the flight vehicle will be able to cross certain distance within a 400km range given the initial kinetic thrust provided by velocity of 1800-1850m/sec that is peak velocity. Convert it and you get peak 5.5 mach. That is dead giveaway.
Flight vehicle like this also has 2 phases of flight usually, boost phase and glide phase. This above I posted is for the glide phase only. Boost phase has already happened before (and not shown on graph) and due to this the FV has velocity of peak 5.5mach at the apogee of 30km altitude. Now guess
Does Rudram series goes upto 30km apogee point?
Rudram 2
Attachments
It's a anti radiation ballistic missile, it should climb that high.
Even air to air missiles climb in altitude to increase range " called lofted trajectory".
This is how glide phase happens , you trade very high speed for longer reach while keeping excellent control over thee vehicle good enough to maneuver and evade any AD system because the interception point calculated by the ad system becomes null & void due to no fixated trajectory found via tracking. A nightmare for any AD system in the world available today.
The lower altitude you can implement this optimised trajectory the better because enemy AD gets less chance to react. Check R2 posters from 2022 expo and 2025 event.
It has to be rudram 2, the Data matches with it
Attachments
Most likely yeah, but
Rudram 2 has max range ~300 km, from apogee of 40km altitude.
The weapon in the chart has shown range of 400km from apogee of 30km altitude
The range can varies,
Rudram2 has 350km range, maybe it likely can Go 400km
Probably, if you stretch it's flight profile, but then it would become lot easier to intercept in terminal.
But the weapon in the chart imo is rudram3.
As I said in the explanation post above, this glide phase trajectory optimization technique is sort of universal model that you can implement in many missiles and shape the trajectory accordingly. Any guided flight vehicle usually has 2 phases of flight generally, boost phase and glide phase. This is why these are called atmospheric boost glide vehicles, ie the entire flight envelope is within the lower altitude and range is extended compared to a pure ballistic trajectory flight vehicle by using aerodynamic lift more precisely. This flight envelope is optimised for a max height constraint of 30 km in this particular graph, it can be also for a 40km apogee high point too.
This one reason why R2 R3 is generally cylindrical shape rocket motors with blunt front. This means such missiles stay within lower altitude region, but can face very high speed and heat loading for a brief period when the rocket motor burns out. That is the peak velocity it attains at the apogee point. this apogee point if you notice in the poster graph, is almost 100km away from launch point. So the boost phase can also give approx 60-100 km lateral distance (can be less ofc but general figure). Then the glide phase program kicks in.
Now the glide phase from the graph, think it as a whole chicken. You went to buy chicken meat, but only want the best cut piece. So the graph shown here is of the entire possible trajectory model wrt velocity where peak is 1800m/s to finally zero almost. But you need certain kinetic thrust & velocity so impact can be supersonic ie 550 m/s. So plot it on the velocity-time graph and we get approx near 270-300sec flight time , then from range-time graph we get approx 300km+ range for that flight duration. So add with the boost phase distance 60km minimum and you get a missile that is capable of striking a longer range than we admit all while in prime condition to evade any ad system.
btw its not essentially for R2, but it can explain the way R2 would fly in this specific trajectory. By changing other parameters , you can create multiple trajectory options thereby increasing the unknown probability factor manyfold. This trajectory can be implemented in any ground or air launched missile. For ground launch you would need a bigger booster that is.
SAT SAAW BDL has delivered some numbers for inventory.
So SAAW is already in IAF service. There are no public announcements of inking a deal to procure Saaw though like we have seen in case of Astra missile.