IASNOVA
Agni-Prime Missile
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired the new generation nuclear-capable ballistic missile ‘Agni Prime’.
- Agni Prime’ is a short-range (surface to a surface) ballistic missile that will have a range of 1000 km to 1500 km and will have advanced features in agility and road mobility.
- It can carry a payload of around 1,000 Kg or a nuclear warhead.
- It is a two-stage canisterised solid propellant ballistic missile with dual redundant navigation and guidance system.
- Since the missile is canisterised, it can be launched from rail and road and stored for a longer period and transported all across the country as per operational requirements.
- The double stage missile will be lighter and much sleeker than its predecessor ‘Agni-1’.
INDRAJAAL
- India’s first indigenous drone defence dome.
- Developed by Hyderabad based technology Research and Development organization Grene Robotics .
- The drone defence dome has a capability to autonomously protect an area of 1000-2000 square kilometres against the aerial threats by assessing and acting on aerial threats like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, munitions loitering and Low Radar Cross Section targets.
Hypersonic Missile Technology
Mach number expresses the speed of an object in air relative to the speed of sound. For example, Mach number 6 here implies that the vehicle was moving at six times the speed of sound.
Subsonic Mach < 1.0
Transonic Mach ~ 1.0
Supersonic Mach > 1.0
Hypersonic Mach > 5.0
Hypersonic weapons travel within the atmosphere and can manoeuvre midway which combined with their high speeds makes their detection and interception extremely difficult.
- This means that radars and air defences cannot detect them till they are very close and little time to react.
- They use scramjet technology, which is a type of Air Breathing propulsion System.
India is 4th country to demonstrate Hypersonic missile technology after USA,China and Russia.
Scramjet Engine/ Supersonic Combustion Ramjet
- The Scramjet engine designed by ISRO uses Hydrogen as fuel and the Oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidiser.
- A ramjet is a form of air-breathing jet engine that uses the vehicle’s forward motion to compress incoming air for combustion without a rotating compressor. Fuel is injected in the combustion chamber where it mixes with the hot compressed air and ignites. A ramjet-powered vehicle requires an assisted take-off like a rocket assist to accelerate it to a speed where it begins to produce thrust.
- Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) and can operate up to speeds of Mach 6. However, the ramjet efficiency starts to drop when the vehicle reaches hypersonic speeds.A scramjet engine is an improvement over the ramjet engine as it efficiently operates at hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion. Thus it is known as Supersonic Combustion Ramjet, or Scramjet.
- India is the fourth country to demonstrate the flight testing of a Scramjet Engine.
CRYOGENICS
(asked in past prelims exams)
– In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures.
– A gas is said to be cryogenic if it can be liquefied at or below −150 °C (123 K; −238 °F).
– Use in Launch Vehicles-
Cryogenic fuels for rockets with liquid hydrogen as the most widely used example. Liquid oxygen (LOX) is even more widely used but as an oxidizer, not a fuel.
‘Pralay’ missile
- Indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile.
- Has a range of 150-500 kilometres with an accuracy of less than 10 metres.
- Has a guidance system that includes state-of-the-art navigation mechanisms and integrated avionics.
Supersonic Missile Assisted Torpedo (SMART)
- SMART is a next-generation missile-based standoff torpedo delivery system.
- It has been designed to enhance anti-submarine warfare capability.
S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile system
- S-400 is among the most advanced air-defence systems in the world.
- Equipped with four different missiles, it can engage enemy aircraft, ballistic missiles, and Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) planes at 400km, 250km, medium-range 120km and short-range 40km.
- It has the capability to engage 80 targets at one time with a response time of 9-10 seconds.
Akash Prime Missile
- In comparison to existing Akash System, Akash Prime is equipped with an indigenous active Radio Frequency (RF) seeker for improved accuracy.
- More reliable performance under low temperature environments at higher altitudes.
- Akash missile is India’s first indigenously produced medium range Surface to Air missile that can engage multiple targets from multiple directions.
- It can be launched from mobile platforms like battle tanks or wheeled trucks.
New Generation Akash Missile (Akash-NG) and Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile (MPATGM)
- MPATGM is an indigenously developed low-weight, fire-and-forget missile incorporated with state-of-the-art miniaturized infrared seeker with advanced avionics.
- Akash-NG is a medium-range mobile surface-to-air missiledefense system. It has a range of 60 km and speed of 2.5 Mach.
HELINA (Helicopter based NAG)
- It is a third-generation fire and forget class anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system mounted on the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).
- It is being inducted into the Indian Army and its variant called DHRUVASTRA is being inducted into the Indian Air Force.
- All weather day and night capability.
- A minimum range of 500 m and a maximum range of 7 km.
Smart anti-airfield weapon (SAAW)
- Indigenously designed smart weapon, with 100 km range, that can target enemy airfield assets such as radars, bunkers, taxiways and runways .
- Electro optical seeker based flight test of this class of bomb has been conducted for the first time in the country.
- It has been equipped with Imaging Infra-Red Seeker technology to enhance precision strike capability.
Long Range Reconnaissance and Observation System (Lorros)
- Frequent incidents of security breach along the borders with China and Pakistan have prompted India to further enhance the Long Range Reconnaissance and Observation System (Lorros).
- The long-range surveillance can spot moving and stationary vehicles at a minimum distance of 40 km and 15 km, respectively. As per the existing specifications, the distance was 15 km for human targets and 24 km for vehicles.
Operation SamudraSetu-II
- It is launched by Indian Navy to augment ongoing national mission to meet the country’s oxygen requirements.
- Warships have been deployed to carry liquid oxygen-filled cryogenic containers and associated medical equipment to India amid its worsening COVID-19 pandemic.
- All such containers carried on aircraft around country are empty because oxygen-filled tanks cannot be transported by air.
Army Secure IndiGeneous Messaging Application(ASIGMA)
- It is an in-house messaging service to meet real time data transfer and messaging requirements of the Army.
Project Seabird
- The largest naval infrastructure project for India, Project Seabird involves creation of a naval base at Karwar (Karnataka) on the west coast of India.
- Upon completion, this will provide the Indian Navy with its largest naval base on the west coast and also the largest naval base east of the Suez Canal.
P-75 I
- Project-75 includes construction of six submarines of Scorpene design.
- VELA- It is the fourth submarine (Kalvari, Khanderi, and Karanja are other three) of the Project75 that was delivered to the Indian Navy recently.
Sarthak
- Indigenously built Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Sarthak was dedicated to the nation.
- ICGS Sarthak is 4 th in the series of five offshore patrol vessel (OPVs) being built by Goa Shipyard Limited.
Tushil
Indian Navy’s stealth frigate Tushil launched in Russia
The first of two additional Krivak or Talwar-class stealth frigates, Tushil, being built in Russia for the Indian Navy, was formally launched into the waters.
It is part of four follow-on frigates contracted by India from Russia, of which two are being built by Russia and two are under construction in India through technology transfer.
Abhyas by DRDO
- ABHYAS- High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT)
- It is a drone that will be used as a target for various missile systems.
- Designed and developed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru for autonomous flying.
Controlled Aerial Delivery System-500 (CADS-500)
- CADS-500 can be used for precise delivery of payloads up to 500 kilograms at a predetermined location by making use of manoeuvrable capabilities of Ram Air Parachute (RAP).
