Indian Missiles and Munitions Discussion

[Ashwin]

I mean from a practical perspective , anti ship role can also be hitting a large container ship that is either slow moving or anchor dropped just outside a harbour, with precious enemy cargo in it (oil, steel, anything vital for wartime use). So technically such a ship hit would still be classified as anti ship mission but given it is a very large ship a larger payload can be used with Dhanush from a makeshift setup platform. Basically the sort of stuff houthis were doing. With correct guidance mechanism such a mission can be pulled off during wartime without exposing capital warships for such secondary role. Those ships can do other mission like hitting port infra or tackling enemy warship.

No, it won't be able to hit any moving platform. It's a very complex thing to achieve. No, the Houthis did not hit any ships with ballistic missiles, even though they tried. Probably they didn't have anything else to fire. The reason for the existence of Dhanush was a stopgap nuclear deterrence. We already had Brahmos in numbers. There was no need to pursue this route.

 

[marich01]

No, it won't be able to hit any moving platform. It's a very complex thing to achieve. No, the Houthis did not hit any ships with ballistic missiles, even though they tried. Probably they didn't have anything else to fire at. The reason for the existence of Dhanush was a stopgap nuclear deterrence. We already had Brahmos in numbers. There was no need to pursue this route.

I choose to disagree. Its much limited in terms of capability but it is there if the mission is planned accordingly and a strap on guidance scheme can be made for it. Its a very unconventional method but it is what the enemy will least expect. The path planning, simulated trajectory and terminal phase engagement method show this missiles built in course planning was to be used as a guided weapon all along to hit with precision, albeit with a larger cep than current gen system. In those days the course update via data link was not possible so this was never demonstrated. Perhaps some day.

Three is no need to debate about the nuke duty part. Average naval personnel would not handle that so it matters little for the nuke triad part. For a limited period of time some airframe can serve as third leg of nuke delivery no issue there.