Development of hypersonic, BrahMos-2 version to begin this year
14 Jun 2011
New Delhi: On the tenth anniversary of the launch of the jointly developed Indo-Russian supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos, senior officials have said that development of a hypersonic version of the missile will begin this year, while tests of the air-launched version of the existing missile are expected to commence next year.
'During the year, we are planning to start work on a hypersonic missile, BrahMos-2. This will be a completely new missile,' Alexander Maksichev, Russian director of BrahMos, told reporters on the sidelines of a function to mark the first launch 10 years ago.
'We expect to be able to start the tests of BrahMos missiles launched from aircraft. Various types of aircraft, including Su-30 MKI fighters, are expected to be armed with these missiles,' Maksichev said.
Addressing the function, former Indian president, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, said he favoured the development of a reusable hypersonic cruise missile.
''You should develop a hypersonic version of BrahMos which can be reused…meaning that the missile should be able to deliver its payload and return to base. This will help in maintaining our leadership in this arena,'' said Kalam, who is considered the father of India's missile programme.
India is the only country in the world to have deployed a supersonic cruise missile.