Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos gets airborne variant

21 June 2008

New Delhi: The Indo-Russian BrahMos Aerospace joint venture has completed the development of the airborne version of an advanced supersonic missile, according to a statement by the company's managing director, Dr Sivathanu Pillai.

BrahMos Aerospace designs, produces, and markets the BrahMos, which is a unique  missile, the world's only supersonic cruise missile. The project was started in 1998, and its sea-based and land-based versions have been tested and successfully deployed into service with the Indian Army and the Indian Navy.

The airborne version, primarily for use by the Air Force, was the only pending variant to complete the deployment suite of the supersonic cruise missile.

According to Dr Pillai, the mass of the missile had to be reduced to maintain the requisite aerodynamic stability post launch from an aircraft. On launch from an aircraft, the missile is already in motion and has some initial speed, which necessitates reducing the booster size.

''Now the missile is ready," Dr Pillai told Russian media.

Pillai added that the Indian Air Force had picked the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI (Nato : Flanker – H) fighter as the trial platform for the airborne version of the missile. The missile has a range of 180 miles (290 kilometres) and is named after the Indian and Russian rivers  Brahmaputra and the Moskva.