BrahMos Missile

BrahMos Missile, the supersonic missile, was jointly developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) India and Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia, NPOM, Russia. This supersonic Ramjet Cruise missile can be launched from a submarine, land, aircraft, or warship. It is one of the fastest missiles currently in operation.

Since then, India has become a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) has been attempting to improvise the target accuracy of BrahMos Missiles and enhance its limits and extent from 400km to 1500km. It can achieve a speed of Mach 2 to Mach 3 and be upgraded to Mach5 to make it hypersonic.

Variants of BrahMos Missile

Land launched Missiles - Missiles have been undergoing several tests, for instance, a land-based test in the Pokhran desert region of India where the missile performance was super, but it missed the target. Another surface-to-surface variant was launched vertically in Chandipur, and it successfully hit the target. It can be launched vertically as well as in an inclined position. Hence it can easily involve ground targets for surgical strikes too.

Submarine Launched Variant - Test fired successfully. The submarine-launched variant of the BrahMos Missile near Vishakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal was one of the first vertically launched supersonic missiles from a submerged platform. A smaller version of these missiles that can be easily placed in the torpedo is being visualized by the Indian Armed forces and Russia.

Air-launched Variant - The BrahMos-A is adapted to be launched as a stand-off weapon. This heavy-weight supersonic cruise missile was integrated resourcefully into a long-range fighter aircraft. The Indian Air Force was the first to have executed a successful test of the missile launch for a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal.

Improvement and Enhancement Plans of BrahMos Missile

After becoming a member of MTCR, India and Russia have constantly been making efforts to upgrade and improve the accuracy of the missiles and which is being applied to existing BrahMos Missiles as well. BrahMos-II is a hypersonic missile estimated with a range of 600km, and steps are being taken to double the speed of this missile. BrahMos-NG (Next Generation) is a mini version of the existing missiles with a range of around 290km. It will have a lesser radar cross-section, making it camouflage in aircraft or submarines and difficult to locate by defence systems.

FAQs on BrahMos Missile

Q1. Who invented the BrahMos Missile?

Ans: BrahMos Missile has been jointly developed by DRDO - India and NPOM - Russia.

Q2. Why the name BrahMos Missile?

And: Brahmos is named after the rivers Brahmaputra of India and Moskva of Russia and panoplies the happily budding India-Russia Defence relationship.

Q3. What are the Advantages of BrahMos Missiles?

Ans: It is not just the fastest supersonic missile but also an anti-ship cruise missile that can easily be launched from ships, land, submarines, and even aircraft.

Q4. What is the target range of the BrahMos Missile?

Ans: BrahMos Missile, the hypersonic missile, is estimated to have a range of 400 to 600km, but since its membership in MTCR, a new generation of BrahMos is being developed with a 1500km range and hit protected targets with pinpoint accuracy. In 2020, DRDO successfully fired an upgraded 800km BrahMos variant.