Indo-Russian BrahMos missile to be ready for air tests by year-end

The BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, the joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia's Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM), is expecting the live flight test of the BrahMos supersonic missile attached on a Sukhoi jet by the end of this year, said A Sivathanupillai, managing director of the company, said today.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Kurukshetra 2014, an international techno-management event organised by Anna University's College of Engineering at Guindy near Chennai, he said, "We are in a stage now to do the integrated test, which will take some time. We are planning the live flight test from the Sukhoi by the end of the year 2014."

Integrating the supersonic missile with the Sukhoi will cost about $50 million. Engine modifications and several other works are being handled by the Russians. Under the agreement, out of the $50 million investment, $25 million is funded by the Russian partner. The total investment in the joint venture is around $300 million while the business, which is the production based on order, is worth $6 billion, he said.

The company had to reduce the weight of the missile and make some changes to use it in Sukhoi. The modifications were required because unlike launching from a static land site, it  will be launched from a moving aerial platform.

"We needed certain modifications. All modifications have been done and missile is ready for flight test. But we need to modify the Sukhoi itself – structurally, to hold this heavy missile. That has been completed and the design has been validated through various tests," Sivathanupillai said.

The missile, launcher and modifications are ready and a wind-tunnel test was successfully conducted at National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) to see whether the separation from the flight is smooth and clean. The modifications were done by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). It may be noted that the company has received around Rs25,000 crore worth of orders from the Army and Indian Navy.

"Launching from the air is a big capability, because it is a moving platform. Today there is no such weapon available in the world. It becomes a very important weapon for our forces," he said.

''The Indian Army is the only land force in the whole world to have a supersonic cruise missile for land attack. Similarly the Indian Air Force will be the only Air Force to have an air launched supersonic cruise missile which can target land and sea," he added.

Sivathanupillai said the company is mandated to export at the right time and the time to start exports depends upon the strategy decision of the government. Currently the country's interest is to equip the Indian armed forces.

"Initially we didn't understand the high potential of the system. Today all countries want this missile. We have become first in the world. First we should use it for our own people," he said.