KALI (Kinetic Attack Loitering Interceptor)

[groundfloorguy]

Hi, Am a new user.... was searching for any news about KALI and stumbled upon this beautiful Forum..... After reading all those posts I realised no wonder nobody knows much about KALI(The Ultimate) I still remember it was around 7 years back it first came on news about KALI(I still remember reading it) its not just a missile detruction device or US version of Star wars....its much GREATER.....than all that.

It stated that its more about Radars... like it can intervene with radar system of an enemy fighter plane and destruct its radar functions(in other ways,enemy fighter plane will loose track of its whre about once KALI intercept... Then he is lost...don't know where he is, what his target is... In one word he will be a log folating in great sea waiting to run out of his fuel and crash..

I belive its one of the best defence mechanism anyone has invented in odern era.... KALI can intercept any device using satelite/radar system means who ver got it can divert the route of a missile to the exact place whre it came from...... NO WONDER DRDO IS KEEPING QUITE ABOUT IT!!!!!!!

 

[Generalissimo]

Care to elaborate? I've never heard about this system which is surprising if what you say is true. From your brief description I don't see how this thing is "kinetic" (implying that it phyiscally hits its target without any explosives) or how it's "loitering" (Able to stay in the target zone for a long time). In fact I don't really see what it does at all.

 

[kato]

Urgh, that... rumour (to be generous) is still around? Thought it died 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[nevidimka]

yeah I heard about the KALI to, but AFAIK it was a energy weapon, not like the 1 described above. Anyways some1 said it was a rumour, is it really? Or is DRDO still in preliminary studies of such kind of technology/physics?

 

[McTaff]

The only references to DURGA and KALI seem to be written by people who don't fully understand the concept.

I'm very doubtful. India may be fairly advanced, but this whole business seems a little far-fetched when you think about the complete lack of information, lack of working prototypes that have been tested, etc.

I can plan and design an airborne EMP or laser superweapon on my home computer if I want:
drawing out how big I think the airframe would need to be given the approximate target size and weight of the system,
decide how many people I'd need to operate it,
choose a current commercial or military airframe based on size and manpower requirements,
put in some technologically advanced laser or directional energy beam/radar systems that I have seen proposed in New Scientist magazine,
using the standard "military countermeasures" template to add chaff and flares,
I can even test aerodynamics, calculate power outputs and ranges, fuel loads and platform "on station" time, all the way down to takeoff distances required.
...and there you have it. The next new superweapon.

Sounds remarkably like ABL, doesn't it? But mine is more awesome because it can bust right through solid rock in milliseconds. I could do excavation with this thing because it is so powerful, yeah!

But just because I have "planned" it, doesn't mean that it is real, would work, is feasible, or even possible.

Sure, telling people that I have a plane that shoots directional radar beams that are so strong that it cooks enemy pilots in the cockpit, or has a laser so strong it can burn holes right through solid rock sounds cool. But, in the end, until I can have a working prototype (which would be international "news" no matter how secretive and compartmentalised I try to be, as espionage is a huge business) then my designs, hypotheses, interesting descriptions and nicely rendered CAD pictures all mean absolutely nothing.

KALI and DURGA are (at the moment) nothing more than something that a half-dozen guys reckon they can build. They may or may not have sold the idea to some generals that love shiny toys, or maybe to the government, but until they have a working prototype that is scalable to the size they need to do the job, it is simply a pipe dream.

Prototypes are always the litmus test, but being so "solid and tangible" they almost invariably are never a secret these days. (It is one thing to keep the propeller design on a submarine a secret, but totally another to have new planes and missiles flying around the atmosphere, and big lasers being built and fired without anyone noticing) In most cases, countries like to advertise the new technology they have in an effort to deter anyone from coming near them - advertising you have a big, powerful system that can do all these things is how you keep people away in the first place.

Most of all, KALI and DURGA just seem like fancy backronyms, with techno-jargon inserted to make it sound like it does something awesome. How does a kinetic weapon (by definition, it uses inherent motion to destroy the target) actually "loiter"? It would then have to launch, hold/loiter, then move to intercept. That would make it a darn sight bigger than a regular SM-3 and thus it would be a huge, expensive undertaking. You'd have to have these things hanging around in space hanging off satellites or something, and that is adding a whole new dimension to the "Star Wars" of last century.

 

[Treachery]

Is this what you all are referring to?

 

[McTaff]

Is this what you all are referring to?

Sounds remarkably like ABL, doesn't it?

Yes. that is what I was referring to when I mentioned ABL. The Boeing ABL is a working prototype system for the United States.

 

[Treachery]

This sounds and looks like a very formidable defense system. Can it be expected that one day these laser-based applications will replace missile defense systems like the Patriot, Aster or S-300, etc? What's keeping it from becoming more ubiquitous already? Cost-effectiveness?

 

[sab3002003]

kali is under development , an version kali5000 was developed for test purpose

http://www.barc.ernet.in/webpages/organization/appd/kali_5000.htm

the problem is that this rail gun can fire once and needs alot of time to recharge before re firing , another version kali10000 is under construction which is said to be capable of multiple firing

 

[McTaff]

kali is under development , an version kali5000 was developed for test purpose

http://www.barc.ernet.in/webpages/organization/appd/kali_5000.htm

the problem is that this rail gun can fire once and needs alot of time to recharge before re firing , another version kali10000 is under construction which is said to be capable of multiple firing

This is nothing remotely like the original post. No doubt this is an application of standard rail gun techniques; not an energy weapon, nor is it "Loitering". The original post also states some sort of directed electromagnetic pulse.

This system is unrelated; it shares the same name (Kali), but that's all.

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As for the previous post asking why JBL isn't mainstream yet: Still in testing.
They've got the tracking lasers pretty much squared away. They have a few phases to go, as they need to test it with a proper weapon-type laser. They have one (called SHEL) that they are yet to install and test. Once they've finished testing with that, then they'll put in the real deal laser they intend on using in the aircraft proper (called COIL).

So at least two major phases and umpteen minor ones.

It is currently an "Acquisition" program, but still really is in the developmental testing stage.