Defense Technology International - December 2007 - (Page 18)

DISPATCHES GLOBAL BrahMos is a joint venture between India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPO Mash), a missile and space rocket designer. (The name BrahMos comes from two major rivers—the Brahmaputra in India and the Moscow in Russia.) The project’s aim was to develop a supersonic anti-ship cruise missile that would be deployed by both countries. The BrahMos PJ-10 is based on NPO Mash technology for the Yakhont 3M55 anti-ship missile. The Russian company is responsible for missile design, while the DRDO works on navigation and computer systems. Alexander Maksichev, co-director of the joint venture, onboard inertial navigation system. In the terminal phase, an active radar seeker takes over, and the missile descends to an attack altitude of 5-10 meters. Approaching a target at Mach 2, the missile is di cult for any ship’s defensive system to hit. BrahMos missiles can be ﬁred in salvos timed to overwhelm a ship’s defenses—or those of an entire battle group. The ﬁrst test launch was in June 2001 at the Interim Test Range in the Indian state of Orissa. During the third test, in February 2003, the missile was launched at sea. In November of that year, BrahMos was launched from the Indian navy’s Rajput destroyer, and hit a target ship for the ﬁrst time. The Indian army has ordered the moregiment, will include three self-propelled launchers carrying three missiles each, plus command and auxiliary vehicles. More orders are expected in 2008. The army terms BrahMos a “land-attack cruise missile” and views it as a precision strike weapon. Meanwhile, designers are working on new platforms for the missile. An airlaunched version is under development. The missile will be slightly redesigned, acquiring a new booster and nose cone. The air-launched version will feature a new satellite navigation system that will be installed on other versions. The company expects India’s air force to provide Su-30MKI fighters for test launches. “We plan to conduct the first tests in 2008-09,” Maksichev says. India is manufacturing the ﬁghters under Russian license, and by 2012 should have more than 200 in service, barring production delays. Each aircraft can carry one missile under its fuselage, but if Sukhoi agrees to strengthen the wings, two additional missiles can be carried. Earlier this year B ra h Mo s d e m o n strated the mock-up of an air-launched version on the navy’s Ilyushin Il-38SD reconnaissance aircraft. Some analysts say the future of this platform is unclear, as the navy hasn’t seemed interested in extending its life. Pillai, however, says BrahMos is considering platforms other than the Su-30MKI, which may mean the Ilyushin aircraft could play a role in missile deployment. Another missile variant is for submarines. BrahMos Aerospace reports that development is complete and it is waiting for a customer to begin tests. A BrahMos MkII missile is being designed and Pillai says that it could be completed in five years. In June 2007, India’s then-president, Abdul Kalam, said that the MkII version should be a hypersonic missile with a scramjet engine. I BRAHMOS CONCEPT How the land-based BrahMos missile would be deployed. says the idea was to create a weapon for various platforms, but priority was given to a ship-based variant, as the system’s launch customer was the Indian navy. The 2,500-kg. (5,500-lb.) missile has a ramjet propulsion system, which gives it a maximum speed of Mach 2.8. Its range is at least 290 km. (180 mi.), and the weapon has a 200-kg. warhead. When launched, a solid-fuel booster rapidly accelerates the missile until it reaches ramjet-sustaining speed. At that point the booster drops o , and the liquid-propellant ramjet, fed by an annular inlet in the missile’s nose, takes over for the rest of the mission. A BrahMos missile can cruise as high as 15,000 meters (49,215 ft.), guided by an 18 bile land-based version. During trials in the desert of Rajastan in May 2006, the missile was ﬁred at a large infrastructure target to verify operation of the radar seeker. The land-based BrahMos missile was displayed at Aero India 2007 in February. Maksichev says the ship-based version has entered service on the Rajput destroyers. Each ship will have eight vertical launchers. The navy also plans to put BrahMos on all Russian-made Talwar class (Project 1135.6) stealth frigates and on locally built Project 15A Kolkata Class destroyers, which will carry 16 launchers. The army expects to take delivery of the mobile missile system by the end of 2007. The first delivery, to an artillery With Neelam Mathews in New Delhi. www.aviationweek.com/dti DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2007 http://www.aviationweek.com/dti

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Defense Technology International - December 2007 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch BrahMos: Ramjet Ship Killer r-e-s-p-e-c-t Deja Vu Trump Card Dubai Demos Agile Helos Joint Force Online Charge UGVs Creep, Crawl to Victory Sweet Ride Fast, Lethal Ship Defense Networking Stealth: Why Raptors Can't Talk The Net Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - December 2007

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