Air-launch BrahMos Cruise Missile Ready for Tests

A modified version of the supersonic BrahMos missile for use by aircraft is ready for tests.
Once the tests are completed, the missile will be inducted in the Indian Air Force. The missile has been already inducted in the Army and Navy.

Speaking to reporters at Kalasalingam University here, BrahMos Aerospace CEO and MD A. Sivathanu Pillai said the missile has been successfully modified for launch from fighter aircraft and fighter-bombers.

"The weight of the missile has been reduced by 500 kg to 2,500 kg for the air-launch variant," he said.

The land and sea launch versions weigh 3,000 kg.

Though the weight has been reduced, the air-launch version remains as deadly as its land- and sea-launched counterparts, Mr Pillai said, adding that trials for the air launch version of BrahMos would be conducted in 2012 and it is expected to be inducted in the Indian Air Force by 2013.

Noting that Sukhoi-30 is currently India’s main strike fighter and the ideal platform for the air-launched missile, he said this version of the BrahMos had been made to be fitted on the aircraft.

Mr Pillai said modifications will have to be made to be made to the Sukhoi-30s too to integrate the air launch version of BrahMos on the fighter.

"The Sukhoi-30 is currently being modified in Russia to allow it to carry the BrahMos,” he said.

Mr Pillai exuded confidence that like the air-launch version of BrahMos, modifications in the Sukhoi-30, the interface and firing controls will also be developed successfully. If all goes well, the missile will be inducted in the IAF by 2013.

On the trials, which are scheduled in 2012, Mr Pillai said that first the missile would be fired without any explosives and then with a bomb load.

Asked about the unique 90º manoeuvrability of the BrahMos after takeoff, he said much effort had been taken to achieve the technique so the missile’s trajectory would be unpredictable.

Comments

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF...

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

Pakistani F-16s Shoot Down RAF Eurofighter Typhoons During Air Combat Exercises In Turkey

Pakistani pilots flying modernised versions of the 1970s-vintage F-16 Falcon fighter have beaten the RAF's brand-new Eurofighter Typhoon superfighters during air combat exercises in Turkey, according to a Pakistani officer. Analysis: The RAF Typhoon, formerly known as the Eurofighter, should nonetheless have been vastly superior in air-to-air combat whether BVR or close in within visual range (WVR). The cripplingly expensive, long-delayed Eurofighter was specifically designed to address the defects of its predecessor the Tornado F3 – famously almost useless in close-in, dogfighting-style air combat. The Typhoon was meant to see off such deadly in-close threats as Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers" using short-range missiles fired using helmet-mounted sight systems: such planes were thought well able to beat not just Tornados but F-16s in close fighting, and this expectation was borne out after the Cold War when the Luftwaffe inherite...

ASIAN DEFENCE

Search This Blog