In a bid to galvanise its air defence capabilities, India today successfully test fired a new, long range surface-to-air missile jointly developed with Israel from a defence base off Odisha coast. India successfully test-fired today a new long range surface-to-air missile capable of countering aerial threats at extended ranges, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushes to enhance the country's military capabilities.
Iran announced today it had successfully tested a new domestically produced long-range missile, which it said was the first that could be guided all the way to targets. When the Indian Navy commissioned its most-advanced warship eight months ago, the INS Kolkata was missing its primary weapon system - the Barak 8 long range surface-to-air missiles, 32 of which were meant to be carried onboard in ready-to-fire mode. NDTV has learned that the Barak 8 missile has cleared all its tests and is ready for induction.
It is routinely mixed with powdered aluminum fuel. The outer casing of the solid rocket motor confines the combustion gases, and transmits the thrust to the warhead. It can also serve as the form in which the propellant is cast. Solid rocket motors are relatively economical and easy to maintain; they can be stored for many years; they are capable of rapid launch.
Thus, they are preferred for missiles. The manufacture of solid propellant, however, is difficult. Each rocket grain must be made free of flaws to avoid the possibility of internal burning and breakup. Minor variations may produce significant changes in performance. The most common method for producing these grains is to cast a mixture of ingredients into a mold and cause it to solidify. To do this, one must convert five or six chemicals into a single material.
The six chemicals consist of an oxidizer ammonium perchlorate , a fuel powdered aluminum , a binder a polymeric material , a curing agent, a plasticizer to make the mix more fluid and a catalyst to control or enhance the burning rate.
To process these unstable ingredients successfully, one needs special techniques and equipment. A long-range missile needs more than one stage. It has been proven mathematically that a serially staged missile is the best design for propelling a warhead long distances.
By discarding the lower stages as they burn up their propellant, a multi-stage missile progressively loses weight, which enables it to fly farther than a comparably sized, single-stage missile. The stage of a solid-propellant missile usually consists of a cylinder made either of high-strength steel or fibers wound in a resin matrix, the cylinder being filled with a rubber-like propellant. Liquid-propellant stages are also cylinders, but they are filled with propellant tanks, pressure tanks, pipes and valves.
At launch, a signal either fires an igniter inside the solid propellant rocket motor, or triggers pressure that forces liquid propellants into the combustion chamber of a liquid rocket motor, where they react. Hot expanding gas then escapes through a rear nozzle, providing thrust.
Rocket stages must be separated quickly and cleanly for the successful flight of a missile. To accomplish this task, missile designers have used explosive bolts and flexible linear shaped charges FLSC. Explosive bolts attach the missile stages together through specially constructed, load-carrying interstages.
These interstages have flanges at the ends that, on signal, explode to separate the stages. A built-in FLSC works by making a circumferential cut through the interstage skin and structure, which allows the stages to separate. From what is essentially the beginning of outer space, the warhead must re-enter the atmosphere before it can reach a target. When it does re-enter, it will be traveling at speeds ranging from Mach 2 to Mach 20, which generate high heat and vibration.
To house the warhead and protect it from these effects, a special re-entry vehicle RV is required. RVs are in the shape of cones, ranging from sharp- to blunt-tipped, that carry not only the warhead but the arming and fusing gear needed to detonate it over the target.
Some RVs, known as maneuvering reentry vehicles MARV , also carry guidance and control equipment that allows them to home in on targets or avoid defenses. The conic surface of the RV is usually coated with heat shield material, typically carbon-based, to withstand the high heat of re-entry. This same manufacturing method can also make inserts for rocket nozzles. As of early , Israel, apparently with the concurrence of their U. This alone could easily take at least one year.
Also in question is Iran's progress in developing an adequate guidance capability. Two press reports, quoting U. The revelations about Russian involvement in the Shahab program have clearly had an effect on U. In December , a Washington Times report quoting a CIA study said Iran had the technical capability to indigenously produce an ICBM capable of carrying a chemical or biological weapon within ten to fifteen years from the time a decision is made to begin development.
In testimony before the same Committee one year later, in January , Tenet said that "Iran's success in gaining technology and materials from Russian companies, combined with recent indigenous Iranian advances, means that it could have a medium-range missile much sooner [than the ten years he predicted the previous year]. Shortly after Tenet's testimony, Air Force Lt. In conjunction with that testimony, officials told Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz that the Shahab-3 could be deployed within two years and that a medium range missile, presumably referring to the Shahab-4, could be deployed "in the first half of the next decade.
That report will be released some time in April In its discussion of the proliferation threat from Iran, the November DoD proliferation report p. The report does not specifically assert that Iran is capable of outfitting the Silkworm, C series, or any other cruise missile with such warheads.
However, most analysts believe that chemical warhead technology converting a Scud warhead, for example is not too complicated for Iran to master and assume that Iran will, if it does not already, have such a warhead capability.
Because fusing for an effective biological warhead is more difficult technologically, Iran is probably a few years away from developing this capability.
Iran is believed to possess ten to fifteen mobile launchers for its missile force. Statements from U. Israeli anxiety about the assistance centers on the possibility that Russia's help will enable Iran to become fully self-sufficient in ballistic missile technology. Up until now, Iran has repeatedly had to turn to China, North Korea, and now Russia to help it overcome its technological weaknesses. Carus points out that Russia might be imparting to Iran the type of skills in systems integration and project management that has accounted for deficiencies in Iran's missile programs to date.
Although Iran appears to be making significant progress, it is useful to approach its ballistic missile capabilities with caution. In contrast to Iraq, Iran appears to have become so dependent on outside assistance that it is difficult to imagine its ballistic missile programs proceeding successfully if that assistance were ended.
North Korea did not deliver the Nodong, even though that was the clear intention of both North Korea and Iran. Some might argue that the caution of outside suppliers has caused Iran to try to become more independent and to become more reliant on its own indigenous capabilities. However, all the evidence available indicates that the outside suppliers are "spoon-feeding" Iran's missile programs, and that these programs would swiftly deteriorate if the outside experts departed and technology transfers dried up.
One anecdotal but relevant analogy can be found in the Iranian contract with Russia to complete the megawatt nuclear power reactor at Bushehr. Under the contract, Iran is to construct the support facilities for the reactor, while Russia builds the reactor itself. During a late February visit to the site--three years after the contract was signed--Russian atomic energy chief Viktor Mikhailov 39 found that Iran's portion of the work was lagging well behind an the contract had to be amended so that Russia could take over from Iran the supporting work required.
Ken Katzman currently analyzes U. Served in government and the private sector as an analyst in Persian Gulf Affairs with special emphasis on Iran and Iraq. This paper incorporates observations, comments, and papers presented by Kenneth Timmerman, Michael Eisenstadt, and Seth Carus at the Commission's March 23, roundtable on the ballistic missile threat from Iran and Iraq.
Special Report No. Bermudez, Joseph. The Middle East and North Africa section. Department of Defense Proliferation Report. November 26, Tyler, Patrick.
Sieff, Martin. Gertz, Bill. Korean Missile Could Reach U. Middle East and North Africa, p. Eisenstadt, Michael. Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Bruce, James.
A useful comparison of the Silkworm and the C series missiles can be found in Hough, Harold. Carus, Seth. Eisenstadt's interpretation is that the Shahab-3 is based on the North Korean Nodong and the Shahab-4 is based on the Soviet SS-4, according to his paper distributed at the March 23 roundtable. It can carry four warheads or ten kt warheads through independently targetable re-entry vehicles.
The three-stage missile is powered by liquid propellant engines, which use UDMH and Nitrogen Tetroxide as fuel and oxidiser respectively. Propulsion is provided by three solid-propellant rocket motors providing a range of over 7, miles 11,km.
The missile can travel at more than 13,mph. The ICBM can carry a single thermal nuclear warhead of 1,kt. The Dongfeng 31A can be launched from silos or transported on a transporter-erector-launcher TEL vehicle. With a launch weight of 42t, the three-stage missile is propelled by solid-propellant rocket motors. The missile is launched either from silos or mobile launchers and can carry a single kt warhead.
The The missile has been designed to withstand radiation, electromagnetic pulse and nuclear explosions at ranges exceeding m, as well as hits from high-energy lasers. Minuteman III was the first missile in history to carry multiple warheads through a multiple re-entry vehicle MRV system.
The missile weighs 76,lb 34,kg and is powered by three-stage solid fuel rocket motors.
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