The BrahMos Missile
BrahMos is a joint Missile development
venture between India and Russia. It has
got this name due to two main rivers in
Russia(MosKova) and India (brahmputra).
India's DRDO(Defence Research and
Development Organisation) and Russia's NPO
mashinostroyeniya under BrahMos
Aerospace, together have researched on it.
The Design part is mainly Russian and the
software part is Indian and which gives it
an edge over other cruise missiles.Its
propulsion is based on the Russian Yakhont
missile, and guidance has been developed
by BrahMos Corp.
BrahMos 1:Technology
BRAHMOS is a Supersonic Cruise Missile that can be launched from submarine, ship, aircraft and land based
Mobile Autonomous Launchers (MAL). The missile is launched from a
Transport-Launch Canister (TLC), which also acts as storage and
transportation container.Primarily BRAHMOS is an anti-ship missile.
It has the capability to engage land based targets also. The missile
can be launched either in vertical or inclined position and will cover
360 degrees. Speed-2.5-2.8 Mach(Only SuperSonic Cruise Missile in
the World till Now and is 3.5 times faster than US Harpoon cruise
missile).Maximum Range :290 Kms with maximum Payload Capacity
of 300 Kgs. Hard to detect by Radars,and Cruise missiles, which can
evade enemy radars and air defence systems since they fly at low-
altitudes, are also much cheaper as well as more accurate and easier
to operate.
Brahmos can be launched from sea( submarine),land and sub sea
platforms. The air-launched version has a smaller booster and
additional tail fins for stability during launch.
Comparison Between Top Missiles in its class:
The high speed of the BrahMos likely gives it better target-penetration characteristics than lighter subsonic cruise-missiles such as the Tomahawk.Twice as heavy and almost four times faster than the Tomahawk, the BrahMos has almost 32 times the initial kinetic energy of a Tomahawk missile.
Next to come:
Next to come would be Brahmos 2 with a speed of 5.26 Machs, also some indegeneous
missiles such as Nirbhay,AVATAR (HSTDV) are being developed.After AGNI-III which has
a range upto 3500Kms AGNI-IV would be developed which would be a two stage missile with
range upto 6000kms.
Click here for more info on Agni>>
Currently,India and Russia intend to make 2,000 BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles over the
next ten years through their joint venture company, and nearly 50 percent of them are expected
to be exported to friendly countries.Moreover, the Army has also begun the progressive induction
of its own BrahMos LACM (land-attack cruise missile) version, with the first battery being handed
over to it in June 2007.
Pakistan, incidentally, is going in for large-scale induction of its ‘Babur’ cruise missile, which
is touted as being capable of carrying nuclear warheads to a distance of 500 km. It was
tested for the first time in August 2005, with a clear Chinese imprint behind its development.
BrahMos is now a national pride, as it is clearly the best in the class.Even the Americans now
fear of Brahmos.With this missile India can take on any country in the world.
