India test fires subsonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’.

After the seventh trial is scheduled next month, India will officially induct the Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile into the Indian Army and Navy but has already moved a small number of missiles to a Line of Actual Control where Indian soldiers are stuck in a heated battle with the PLA of China.

The solid rocket booster missile with a range of 1,000 km has a single shot kill ratio of more than 90%. The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) developed it,

According to our sources, people familiar with the development hours after an extended-range BrahMos surface-to-surface subsonic cruise missile was launched by India after testing, which can reach targets 400 km range.

The formal induction of the Nirbhay subsonic missile has been approved by the Defense Acquisition Council, led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The military, though, did not wait for the formality of the new missile to be deployed and some of them have already moved to protect the LAC against China.

The missile has both terrain-hugging and sea-skimming ability, which flies at a speed of 0.7 Mach, which helps prevent detection and counter-measures.

At the LAC, after the Ladakh stand-off began in May this year, the PLA’s western theatre control placed stand-off weapons of up to 2,000 km range and long-range surface-to-air missiles in Tibet and Xinjiang.

The Chinese deployment is not restricted to occupied Aksai Chin but is situated along the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC) in-depth positions from Kashgar, Hotan, Lhasa, and Nyingchi.

Authorities said Wednesday’s testing with an indigenous airframe and booster of the 400-km range BrahMos missiles is critical as it cleans the decks for India to get the next class of supersonic long-range strategic cruise missile.

The Brahmos has a liquid-fuelled booster with a range of 500 km or more.

These new-age systems will be based on a solid-fuel ducted ramjet (SFDR) system that can be used for both air-to-air and long-range suborbital cruise missiles. The DRDO has tested the technology twice-on 30 May 2018 and 8 February 2019.

The new cruise missile class will have a strong rocket booster using SFDR technology along with supersonic speed. On the basis of mission targets, the range of missiles can be decided, “said an Indian missile expert.

It is known that there would be a better circular error of likelihood for the new category of cruise missiles (yet to be named) than the BrahMos with a large conventional warhead to attack enemy airbases and ships.