BrahMos – reckoned as world’s fastest, deadliest cruise missile – is one of the major attractions at Aero India 2021. Designed and developed by India-Russia Joint Venture (JV) entity BrahMos Aerospace, the supersonic weapon with precision strike power is bedazzling the crowds yet again.
The highly versatile BrahMos weapon system comes with a lethal trident-like combination of speed, precision, and power. It has emerged as the “ultimate game-changer” for India. Operationalised in the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, BrahMos has established itself as a major force multiplier in modern-day complex battlefields having impeccable land-attack and anti-ship capabilities from multiple platforms for multi-role missions.
The “stealthy killer” straight away annihilates its target at a maximum velocity of Mach 2.8 after cruising at altitudes varying from as low as 10-metres to up to 15-km. BrahMos can be fitted in ships, mobile autonomous launchers, submarines and aircraft to precisely neutralise land and seasurface targets.
BrahMos Aerospace, the JV entity between India’s DRDO and Russia’s NPOM, is exhibiting the air, land and sea variants of the powerful weapon system at the biennial event, pegged to be Asia’s premier air show. BrahMos has given a major fillip to India’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat” programme by rendering an unmatched potential to the Indian Armed Forces to vanquish any enemy in high intensity, modern conflict situations.
BrahMos Land-based System: The Indian Army has become the first and only army in the world to have a regiment of supersonic cruise missiles with advanced capabilities. The mobile land-based configuration of BrahMos has achieved several advancements over the years in the form of Block I, Block II and Block III variants – each having its own distinct potentiality to hit and destroy high value enemy targets.
BrahMos Air-Launched System: The BrahMos airborne weapon has given the Indian Air Force (IAF) a distinct capability to completely knock down strategic enemy assets on the ground or sea from large, stand-off ranges with deadly accuracy. The advanced air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) can operate in day-and-night, all-weather conditions. After undergoing a series of successful launches from the IAF’s Su-30 MKI air combat platform, BrahMos-A has been successfully inducted in the IAF’s Tigersharks Squadron in 2020.
BrahMos Ship-based System: The naval strike variant of BrahMos is operational on all frontline destroyers and frigates of Indian Navy. The missile can be fired from vertical and inclined launchers against both land and seasurface targets. It can also be launched in ‘salvo’ mode to destroy targets in same or different directions. The weapon has also been successfully tested from an underwater platform in 2013, establishing its capability to be fitted onto submarines in future.
Futuristic BrahMos Versions: Traversing the world of futuristic weapon systems, BrahMos Aerospace has initiated work on a hypersonic BrahMos version. This highly advanced variant would be a quantum leap in modern missile technology as it would be developed to cruise at an ultra high speed of up to Mach 8. Yet another futuristic variant will be BrahMos-NG (next-gen), having smaller, smarter dimensions.
BrahMos Aerospace is also exhibiting various indigenously developed components and systems at the mega event. Also exhibited are a full-scale BrahMos airborne weapon integrated on the Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the outdoor display alongside the actual Mobile Autonomous Launcher with 3-BrahMos missile configuration.
