Nirbhay Family of Subsonic Cruise Missiles : News and Discussions

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marich01

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ITCM takes off with Manik success in Chandipur​

India is planning to develop a 1,000 km range supersonic cruise missile for land attack and a 1,500 km range naval version with the new Manik engine.

BHUBANESWAR: India has finally achieved much needed success in its indigenous technology cruise missile (ITCM) programme validating the newly developed small turbo fan engine (STFE) in a fresh test from a defence facility off Odisha coast on Tuesday.
Defence sources said the ITCM, a technology demonstrator, was tested on subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay platform from launching complex III of the integrated test range (ITR) at about 10 am.
Equipped with the indigenously developed small turbo fan engine (STFE) Manik and an upgraded radio frequency seeker, the missile was test fired for a reduced range. The technology demonstrator that would pave the way for a long range land attack cruise missile, which is now under development, had failed as the engine reportedly developed snags during a trial on October 28 last year.
The domestic Manik engine with a thrust rating of 450 kgf has been designed and developed by Bengaluru-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) for cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. It is a generic twin spool engine without afterburner.
“The engine will be used in long range cruise missiles after a couple of more tests. Once the perfection is achieved, several variants of the cruise missile equipped with a turbo fan engine can be developed in future,” the sources added.
So far, four tests of ITCM technology demonstrator have been conducted since 2020. While two of the tests had failed, one trial on August 11, 2021 was partially successful.
Before the ITCM project, India had inducted subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay that was powered by a Russian NPO Saturn 36MT engine. India is planning to develop a 1,000 km range supersonic cruise missile for land attack and a 1,500 km range naval version with the new Manik engine.
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www.newindianexpress.com

ITCM takes off with Manik success in Chandipur

BHUBANESWAR: India has finally achieved much needed success in its indigenous technology cruise missile (ITCM) programme validating the newly developed small tu
www.newindianexpress.com www.newindianexpress.com
 
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marich01 said:

ITCM takes off with Manik success in Chandipur​




www.newindianexpress.com

ITCM takes off with Manik success in Chandipur

BHUBANESWAR: India has finally achieved much needed success in its indigenous technology cruise missile (ITCM) programme validating the newly developed small tu
www.newindianexpress.com www.newindianexpress.com
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No press release, nothing official yet. Although TNIE is almost always accurate about tests, thanks to their odisha based reporter.
 
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If the test is for short duration like it is intended, then no press release/comment is understandable same as hstdv. They have stopped giving updates like before.
 
Rajput Lion said:
It's coming. Very soon our armed-forces will have our own desi Tomahawk ready. Finally, the blood, sweat and talent of our scientists is paying huge dividend in every defence sector.
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It's ITCM only ,
Experimental technology demo vehicle..

After that definitive User variants will derived from it, right?

So it's still long way to go, atleast 10-20 ( 10 itcm + 10 user variant) tests pending.
 
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Sathya said:
It's ITCM only ,
Experimental technology demo vehicle..

After that definitive User variants will derived from it, right?

So it's still long way to go, atleast 10-20 ( 10 itcm + 10 user variant) tests pending.
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I agree that this project has taken much longer than we're all expecting and that led to frustration among Indian defence enthusiasts. Biggest hurdle was developing our own small turbofan engine Manik.

But we needed to develop our engine as it would allow us to rapidly modify and enhance it, plus cost of per missile with our engine would be much less. Both these things were not possible with the Russian engine.

So even though we're late in the game. We will get there eventually very soon from now onwards(as the desi STFE engine seems ready now).
 
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Rajput Lion said:
I agree that this project has taken much longer than we're all expecting and that led to frustration among Indian defence enthusiasts. Biggest hurdle was developing our own small turbofan engine Manik.

But we needed to develop our engine as it would allow us to rapidly modify and enhance it, plus cost of per missile with our engine would be much less. Both these things were not possible with the Russian engine.

So even though we're late in the game. We will get there eventually very soon from now onwards(as the desi STFE engine seems ready now).
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CATS will be tested in 2024-25 it seems..
Not sure what all be in there..
Anyways Scalp like cruise missile will be the derivative of ITCM for air force..
Guessing in 2 or 3 years, it ll be assembled.

Completely self sufficient in bombs and missiles very soon.. for a sustained war.
 
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Cruise control: India accelerates development of tactical missiles​


by Kapil Kajal Mar 9, 2023, 07:20 AM​


India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recently conducted a flight test of its Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile (ITCM) from the Integrated Test...


India's Nirbhay cruise missile, displayed above at Defexpo 2020 in Lucknow, will be equipped with small turbofan engines, enhanced radio frequency seekers, and other subsystems to transform it into the proposed Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile. (Janes/Rahul Udoshi )

India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recently conducted a flight test of its Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile (ITCM) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur off the northeastern coast of Odisha.

The ITCM is a technology demonstrator programme to validate the capability of its indigenously developed small turbofan engines (STFEs) – also known as Manik engines – upgraded radio frequency (RF) seekers, and other subsystems. The ITCM is based on the Nirbhay cruise missile, which is also powered by STFEs. The developer of the STFE is the DRDO's Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE).

A DRDO official told Janes on 3 March that the ITCM test, which took place in mid-February, was successful in demonstrating the capabilities of the STFE. “The ITCM was tested three times before this test, resulting in partial success. The last test in October 2022 was aborted due to technical issues. However, the [most recent] test validated the ability of [the] STFE,” he said.

The official added that the successful test of the STFE has cleared the way to integrate the engine into the Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile (LRLACM), which is under development. “The LRLACM is a replacement for the Nirbhay missile and will be developed for all land, air, and marine formations,” he said.

“[However], before a rocket engine is actually put to use in the [LRLACM] missile, it has to be tested with a special flight test vehicle like [the] ITCM,” the DRDO official added.
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Cruise control: India accelerates development of tactical missiles

India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recently conducted a flight test of its Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile (ITCM) from the Integrated Test...
www.janes.com
 
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Was watching back an old webinar from March 2022, found an interesting estimate, for me the stfe part. Like their other projects it will be in 2 phases it seems? 800-1000km Nirbhay , then increased to 1500km like we heard.
ps: this estimate information looking to be a bit old, like from 2017-18 given the amca engine is still far away?

deman03.png

EDIT: Unrelated, but 2 other screenshots I took from there

deman02.png
Screenshot (2).png
Screenshot.png
Screenshot (1).png
 
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Fatalis said:
Weren't they saying the expected order for QRSAM was supposed to come in 2024. Now it is 25.

Damn, we will have to wait till 26 to see VL-SRSAM and Akash-NG in service.

Interesting point is the timeline for LRLACM which is yet to be tested.
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Election year very near within next 15-18 months, so expected slowdown. Industry seems relatively relaxed about it. The one product which we & everyone was worried much with huge delays was the atags. So there is a big sigh of relief there. Rest orders should follow. Companies get intimation from MoD early & start placing raw material orders even before formal order placement.

VLSRSAM etc, you have to consider the scale of work, liaising with lead integrator, testing everything from raw material to small parts to full integrated article, ground checking storage, refitting on ships, reporting at every stage, post induction support, everything. Hence any new induction takes time. There are shortage on everything, qualified manpower, delay in import schedule due to current logistics issues globally.

LRLACM, GTRE I think is busy making the stfe now, full steam ahead. About 150 nos projected for the dev phase.
 
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Fatalis said:
150 engines just for development phase? That will be a lot. Hope we expect maiden firing this year.
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That was a projection amount, nothing binding. I think I posted that sow pic somewhere here. Imo Nirbhay firing in February might have been part of it. Could test flight algo etc.
 
20221019_095401-1.jpg

PDC is expected to be completed by July 2023. Then may be we can see some movement on LRLACM.

There are three versions:
1. Nirbhay-OG: Uses Russian engine. News is that it is in service with IA in limited numbers.

2. ITCM-TD: As name suggests it is a Technology Demonstrator with higher indeginous content and desi STFE.

3. LRLACM: The new kid on the block. 1500+ km range missile being developed for IN and IAF.

It is interesting to note that LRLACM is not being developed for IA. May be the Rocket Force will come into effect and remove the service's control.
 
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