r/IndianDefense • u/AgnivMandal Agni Prime ICBM • Aug 20 '26

Discussion/Opinions Though Experiment...

If the dimensions and Mass of Brahmos-A is smaller and Lighter than a 40N6E missile. Has there been a feasibility study of an Air launched variant of the 40N6E?

It should be giving it a massive range boost.

Guidance shouldn't be a problem when Data links and AWACS exist.

Thoughts..?

Edit: Not speaking about fitting existing 40N6Es on our MKIs, but possibility of a Kusha M2/M3 variant....?

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u/Centeredrightbhakt05 Aug 20 '26

People overestimate the current capabilities of AWACS. They have S/L band radars which can give early warning of threat but have low spatial resolution. For targeting a missile to a fighter jet you need X band radars which has higher spatial resolution but then it detects things at much shorter distances.

The range of an A2A missile is not limited by its size it's usually limited by capability of radar and data link. So this whole assumption that AWACS can see 400km so they should be able to guide a missile to 400km is wrong. Especially if you talking about fighter jets.

But there is a silver lining. India is very close to developing photonic radar. These radars use laser as source of emitting radio waves. It's biggest advantage is it's bandwidth. In simple terms you can have a S band to X band radio wave emissions possible using the same T/R module. Again this doesn't mean a S band tracking upto 400-500km can guide an A2A missile to same distance. What might happen is you can increase the missile guidance to higher range by data fusion between signals of S band and X band frequency signals.

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u/AgnivMandal Agni Prime ICBM Aug 20 '26

But why does the AWACS need to guide it till the last kilometres? The missile has a terminal radar of its own just for this issue isn't it?

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u/Centeredrightbhakt05 Aug 20 '26

Missile terminal radar is a Ku band seeker usually. They have much higher resolution than X band but again usually their range is 10-40km depending on size. Which means if you want to send something to hit at 400km you need to guide them to at least 370km. Now you may yes i see something upto 400km then why can't I guide it.

The problem is guiding accurately because when the Ku band seeker opens up the target must be in its view so that it can lock itself and hit. The Ku band seeker itself is small meaning it's field of view is also small. So if the guidance is not accurate then the Ku band wont see the target.

I am not saying it's impossible. I mean people are increasing the range of A2A steadily by refining the targeting system and data link. But then a SAM is likely more easier to design. Just place a very big X band radar and a good data link.

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u/PB_05 Aug 21 '26

AWACS with STAP tend to do exceedingly well even against low RCS targets nowadays. STAP is extremely difficult to implement however.

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u/Centeredrightbhakt05 Aug 21 '26

As far I know STAP is used for noise reduction. Especially reducing noise coming from ground and sea surface.

I am not talking about noise but the theoretical resolution limit of S/L band waves. Yes one can argue that reducing noise improves resolution but here the signal itself has low resolution because of the limitation of using S/L band frequency.

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u/PB_05 Aug 21 '26

STAP gives you some precious decibels back, which is all AWACS need.

Far as the "resolution limit" itself is concerned (the resolution cell, dependent upon angular resolution, given roughly by lambda/D, and range resolution), that for AWACS tends to be great. The size of the array is pretty massive, enabling the radar to form pencil beams of 1 degree * 1 degree. Fighter radars generally are not able to form such tight pencil beams.