On June 12, in the ‘Silver Jubilee Year’ to commemorate the 21 years since the launch of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos Aerospace made announcements that that India would have its first hypersonic missiles in five to six years.
“BrahMos Aerospace is capable of making hypersonic missiles. In five to six years, we will be able to have our first hypersonic missile by BrahMos,” said Atul Rane, CEO, and MD, BrahMos Aerospace.
Rane was speaking at a ceremony to kick off India’s ‘Silver Jubilee Year’ celebrations (1998-2023) held to honor the country’s most successful, cutting-edge military partnership program, the BrahMos, which is the world’s greatest, fastest, and most potent contemporary precision strike weapon, Live Mint reported.
BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile developed by the Russian-Indian joint company BrahMos Aerospace. The Russian NPO Mashinostroeniya and the Indian DRDO are the collaborative producers of the weapon. The Indian Air Force, Navy, as well as Ground Forces, use the BrahMos missile.
DRDO successfully tested a Hypersonic Technology Demonstrated Vehicle (HSTDV) in September 2020.
India has chosen an air-breathing scramjet propulsion system, which essentially means that the vehicle requires air from the atmosphere to maintain propulsion.
During the HSTDV test, the missile attained a speed of Mach 6 and traveled for just 23 seconds. However, with this indigenously manufactured technology, India joined a select group of countries, including the United States, Russia, and China, with technology capable of taking an unpredictable trajectory and eluding interceptor detection.
Even though the missile is projected to have a range of 600 kilometers, experts suggest that the BrahMos II, similar to Russia’s Zircon hypersonic missile, would travel at a speed of Mach 8 and have a range of 1000 kilometers.
The currently operational Brahmos missile has a range of up to 290 kilometers and travels at supersonic speeds throughout its flight.
