BRAHMOS
- DEFENCE & SECURITY
News:
Indian Navy’s new BrahMos
deal and missile indigenisation | Explained
What's
in the news?
●
Strengthening the Indian Navy’s defence
arsenal, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) cleared the ₹19,000-crore
acquisition of 200 BrahMos Extended Range (ER) supersonic cruise missiles for
warships.
BrahMos:
●
The BrahMos is a short-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile, a joint development
of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Russian
Federation’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPOM).
●
The missile is named after two prominent
rivers of India and Russia -
Brahmaputra and Moskva.
Backdrop:
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The BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture
between the DRDO and NPOM, was established following an intergovernmental
agreement signed between India and Russia in 1998.
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In the joint venture, the Indian side
holds a share of 50.5%, while the Russian side accounts for 49.5%.
●
The technology used in this joint venture
is based on the Russian P-800 Oniks cruise missile and similar sea-skimming
cruise missiles from Russia.
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The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was
first tested on June 12, 2001 at Chandipur in Odisha.
Special
Features of BrahMos:
●
It is a two-stage (solid propellant engine in the first stage and liquid ramjet
in second) air to surface missile
with a flight range of around 300 km.
○
However, India's entry into the Missile
Technology Control Regime (MTCR) has extended the range of the BRAHMOS missile
to reach 450 km - 600 km, a shade
above its current MTCR capped range of 300 km.
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Brahmos is the heaviest weapon to be
deployed on Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft, with a weight of 2.5 tonnes.
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Stealth technology and a guidance system
with advanced embedded software.
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Brahmos is a multi platformed launch system i.e. it can be launched from land,
air, and sea and multi capability missile with pinpoint accuracy that works in
both day and night irrespective of the weather conditions.
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It operates on the "Fire and Forgets" principle i.e. it does not require
further guidance after launch.
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Brahmos is one of the fastest cruise
missile currently operationally deployed with speed of Mach 2.8, which is 3 times more than the speed of sound.