Brahmos – UPSC Prelims

Supersonic cruise missile

Designed and developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of India and Russia

It has derived its name from the names of two rivers, India’s Brahmaputra River and Russia’s Moskva River.

It operates on fire and forget principal

Capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against sea and land targets

Carrying capacity : 300 Kg (both conventional and nuclear)

Speed : Mach 3 (that is, three times the speed of sound)

Max Range : 290 Km. Its range was extended to 450 km and plan is to increase it to 600km.

It is two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant.

BrahMos missile already has been inducted into the Indian Army and Navy

India and Russia have agreed to double the range from 290 to 600 kms.

Earlier, India was denied access to the missile technology with range over 300 km as it was not member state of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). But India’s recent accession to MTCR, allowed Russia to provide the critical systems and technology to extend the range of the missile beyond 300km.

It is successfully test fired from Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets. It makes IAF first air force in world to have successfully fire air-launched 2.8 Mach surface attack missile of this category.