The top 4 most powerful Made In India weapons at 2020

With the strength of over 1.4 million active personnel the Indian Armed Forces is the world's second-largest military force next to China and has the world's fourth-largest defence budget. Today in this post we are going to review the 4 most powerful weapons of Indian Armed Forces at present.

BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile

The BrahMos is a medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarine, ships, aircraft, or land and can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.

It is the fastest supersonic cruise missile and the world's fastest anti-ship cruise missile in operation. The missile is equipped with stealth technology designed to make it less visible to radar and other detection methods.

BrahMos claims it has the capability of attacking surface targets by flying as low as five meters thereby making it extremely difficult for enemy radar to detect.

Currently the indian army deployed its BrahMos regiments in Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh. The air-launched and naval versions of BrahMos are already operational and are in active service.

Agni Missile Series

The Agni missiles are long range, nuclear weapons capable surface to surface ballistic missiles.

The Agni missile series has a operational range varying from 700 km to 8.000+ km.

The latest MIRV capaple Agni 6 which has a operational range of 10.000+ km is under development.

Kolkata Class Destroyer

The Kolkata class  are a class of stealth guided missile destroyers constructed for the Indian Navy  and are the largest destroyers to be operated by the Indian Navy.

These are the first stealth destroyers being built by India and marked a significant development in India's shipbuilding technology. The ships would incorporate modern weapons and sensors, and will have an advanced information warfare suite and an auxiliary control system with a sophisticated power distribution architecture, and modular crew quarters.

The class have a length of 163 m and total displacement 7.400 tonnes. The supersonic BrahMos anti-ship and land-attack missiles are the primary offensive armament of the Kolkata class. The ship's main air-defence armament is composed of four eight-cell vertical launching systems allowing for up to thirty-two Barak 8 air defence missiles.

Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme

The Indian Ballistic Missile Defense Programme is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect India from ballistic missile attacks.

Introduced in light of the ballistic missile threat from mainly Pakistan as well as from China, it is a double-tiered system consisting of two land and sea-based interceptor missiles, namely the Prithvi Air Defence  missile for high altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence missile for lower altitude interception.

The two-tiered shield should be able to intercept any incoming missile launched from 5.000 kilometres away. India became the fourth country to have successfully developed an anti-ballistic missile system after United States, Russia and Israel. China became the 5th country to do so.

RS-26: Serious reasons to be concerned

Russia will test launch a controversial missile over the next several weeks that U.S. officials say is raising serious concerns. Let us see briefly why:

1. The RS-26 missile is expected to be deployed with multiple supersonic, maneuvering warheads designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses in Europe.
2. The new missile appears to violate the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, based on recent tests and Russian statements that it is designed to thwart U.S. defenses.
3. The Russians have been quoted in state-controlled press reports as saying the new missile will be used to defeat and destroy U.S. and NATO missile defenses in Europe.
4. The new missile will be equipped with three multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles, or MIRVs. What is new is that the warheads are super-high-speed vehicles capable of maneuvering from missile interceptors. The maneuvering warheads are considered advanced technology that will increase the precision targeting of the missile system.
5. The missile will be equipped with a high-performance fuel that boosts acceleration shortly after launch, a feature useful for avoiding anti-missile interceptors.
6. The RS-26 will add to Russia’s formidable and growing arsenal, which includes SS-27 and SS-29 road-mobile, solid-fuel missiles; a new submarine-launched nuclear missile called Bulava; and plans for a new silo-based ICBM.

India: Second test-firing of Agni-V

Working at a fast pace towards production and induction of Agni-V missile into the forces, Defence Research and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) is reportedly planning its second test fire next month.

The maiden test fire of Agni-V, the first intercontinental ballistic missile of India, was carried out in April 2012. The successful trial catapulted the country into the exclusive ICBM club comprising six elite countries, United States of America, Russia, China, France and United Kingdom.

Dr. V. G. Sekaran, chief controller R&D Missiles & Strategic Systems and Agni programme director, said that while no date has been fixed for the test as of now, it will be conducted in September. "This test shall be aimed at repeatability of the previous test for stabilizing the performance of sub-systems," he said, adding that DRDO is working at starting the production and delivery phase by 2015 for Agni-V.

Meanwhile, DRDO is leaving no stone unturned for kick starting the canisterization process for Agni-V by this year end. Canister launch of the missile will enable higher flexibility in launching speedy firing from any location on a road. The indigenously developed 50-tonne long range surface-to-surface ballistic missile Agni-V, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead weighing more than a tonne, has a 5,000 km range as per DRDO officials, who confirmed that preparations are at full swing at Wheeler Island off the Odisha Coast for a September launch.

Once inducted, India's range with respect to missile reach would include the entire Asia as well as parts of other continents. Agni V will be inducted into the force equipped with MIRVs (Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicles (MIRVs) for shooting multiple warheads at the same time.

China's new developments on ICBMs: A brief look

DF-31/31A

• China’s military recently carried out a third test of a long-range DF-31A ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) capable of hitting the United States with nuclear warheads. U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports said the flight test took place July 24 in China and highlights Beijing’s large-scale nuclear force buildup.
• According to intelligence reports, China's military has “more than 15” DF-31A launchers for the solid-fueled, single-warhead ICBM that has a range greater than 6,835 miles (12.658 Km). Regarding warheads, some missile specialists say the DF-31A is capable of carrying up to five nuclear warheads.
• The Pentagon’s 2011 annual report on China’s military stated that China is continuing to modernize its nuclear forces by enhancing silo-based ICBMs and adding harder-to-detect mobile missile. “In recent years, the road-mobile, solid-propellant [DF-31 and DF-31A] intercontinental range ballistic missiles have entered service,” the report said, adding that the DF-31 A “can reach most locations within the continental United States.”

DF-41 and JL-2/2A

• The July 24 DF-31A test came exactly a year after the Chinese conducted what U.S. officials said was one of the first flight tests of a new longer-range ICBM called the DF-41, which is expected to be China’s first long-range missile capable of carrying multiple warheads (up to 10 nuclear warheads).
• About this matter, Rick Fisher (China military affairs specialist at the International Assessment and Strategy Center) says: "The DF-31A fleet will soon be joined by an initial force of up to 36 JL-2 or JL-2A submarine-launched nuclear missiles within the next year, and these will be followed by multiple warhead or MIRV capable DF-41 road mobile ICBMs.”

MIRVs and decoy warheads

• China is developing Multiple-Independently targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs) for its missiles and also has used decoy warheads designed to fool U.S. missile defense sensors.
• A recently published report by the Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center concluded “China has the most active and diverse ballistic missile development program in the world. It is developing and testing offensive missiles, forming additional missile units, qualitatively upgrading missile systems, and developing methods to counter ballistic missile defenses.” 

Rusia construira el prototipo de un nuevo ICBM

 

En 2011, el ejército ruso anunció los planes para construir el misil. Se espera que el prototipo vea la luz en 2014 y que para 2018 remplace al ICBM Voyevoda (SS-18 Satan) que ha estado en servicio desde 1967. El nuevo ICBM tendrá un peso de 100 toneladas al despegue y contará con ojivas de mayor potencia destructiva, incluyendo MIRVs con elementos de señuelo. Segun lo declarado por fuentes oficiales, el futuro nuevo misil combinado con el futuro nuevo sistema de adquisición de blancos para ICBMs que está actualmente en desarrollo, constituirán la combinación perfecta para atravesar las más sofisticadas defensas antimisiles.