Modified Russian-Indian cruise missile BrahMos to undergo flight tests at 2014 end - newspaper
DELHI. Jan 31 (Interfax-AVN) - The development of a modified Russian-Indian air-launched supersonic cruise missile BrahMos is proceeding successfully, the Indian business newspaper Business Standard reported with reference to A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and managing director of BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd., a Russian-Indian joint venture.
"We are planning the live flight test from the Sukhoi by the end of the year 2014. Integrating the supersonic missile with Sukhoi requires about $50 million," Sivathanu Pillai said at the Kurukshetra 2014 international techno-management fest in Chennai, India.
"Engine modifications and so many works are given to the Russians. As per the agreement, out of the $50 million investment, $25 million is funded by the Russian partner. The total investment into the JV is around $300 million while the business, which is the production based on order, is $6 billion," he said.
The joint-venture had to reduce the missile's weight and make some other alterations to use it on board a Sukhoi fighter.
"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," he 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 newspaper reports.
"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.
A decision on the missile's possible exports rests with the government, he said.
Sivathanu Pillai said in elaborating on plans to develop a hypersonic version of the missile, BrahMos II, that this would require a sophisticated technology named Scramjet, and the process could take about five years. A hypersonic missile integrating the Scramjet technology could theoretically fly 15 times the speed of sound, although its development will require special technology, as this high speed significantly heats up the missile's surface, the newspaper says.
