Recently, a deal has been signed for BrahMos missiles and Next Generation Brahmos Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries Long Range (NGMMCB LR) and Brahmos missiles.
BrahMos Aerospace (BAPL), a joint venture between India and Russia is speeding up its efforts to develop technology for hypersonic version of the BrahMos missile.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told Financial Express Online that the company has tied up with various institutes in India and Moscow to work on the hypersonic version of the missile which can travel at five to seven times the speed of sound. Next to the present variants of Mach 2.8 to Mach 3.5, the hypersonic version will be BrahMos II.
The company has a tie up with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore where a team of 20 scientists are working on developing technologies that will be used for high temperature material to be used for building the missile, energy modules, cram-jet propulsions and required algorithms. And for this purpose a separate centre has been created in IISc, and the Moscow Institute of Aviation will focus on producing technologies for propulsion, kinetic energy modules which will be used in the hypersonic version of the missile.
Meanwhile
Atul Dinkar Rane, CEO and MD, BrahMos Aerospace had told Financial Express Online earlier that the focus of the company is on the new BrahMos Next-Generation missile. This missile weighs almost half as much as the regular BrahMos missile which is already operational in India and the most lethal supersonic cruise missile.
The design work on the NG is going on and the design assessment will be done in Moscow soon. Following which there will be qualifying trials of the new version of the BrahMos Missile by 2024.
The company is aiming for 1,330 kgs of weight and performance in terms of range to be around 300 kms at a speed of Mach 3.5 and launchable from any aircraft.
The BrahMos NG will have a indigenous seeker with AESA radar and it will have a lesser radar cross section in comparison to the previous version.
By 2025, it is likely to be provided to the Indian Air Force, and as reported earlier the BrahMos NG could be fitted on the fighter fleets of SU-30 MKI and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft `Tejas’.
When will the hypersonic variant be ready?
There is still work going on and it will take some time before it is ready. However, it is going to be very expensive and not many orders are expected from the Indian Armed Forces due to its high costs.
Indian Navy places order BrahMos NG
Recently, a deal has been signed for BrahMos missiles and Next Generation Brahmos Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries Long Range (NGMMCB LR) and Brahmos missiles. The deal has been finalised for the Indian Navy at a cost of over Rs 1700 Crore.
https://www.financialexpress.com/business/defence-india-speeding-up-development-of-hypersonic-brahmos-with-mach-5-7-3071445/
