thestringshredder
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The air-launched version of Indo-Russian supersonic cruise missile BrahMos will be test-fired in the middle of next year, according to A.Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and CEO of BrahMos Aerospace.
We are developing a modified air-launched variant of the missile with reduced weight and contemplating to have a live firing from Sukhoi-Su 30MKI fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the middle of 2014, Mr.Pillai said.
He was talking to reporters after inaugurating solar-powered House of Kalam and Mission of Life, a gallery of former President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam at Rameswaram near here, on Friday.
He said the Sukhoi aircraft was also being modified to carry the missile. The missiles weight would be reduced by 500 kilograms to 2.5 tonne and a new launcher would be attached to the fighter jet.
As the pilot would be flying solo in the fighter, electronic software had been developed to give complete information about the health of the missile and the target situation, he said.
This would be linked to the mission computers and we are in the process of testing the software, he added.
The aircraft and the missile would also go through independent tests and an integrated final test.
We will start the tests this year-end and complete different stages of testing in a year, he said, and added that after all the tests, the missiles would be supplied to the IAF in 2015.
Answering a question, Mr.Pillai said the DRDO had developed a submarine variant of the missile and tested it from a submerged pontoon off Visakhapatnam. It is for the Navy to proceed on this, he said. As of now, India was the only country in the world to have land operating supersonic missiles, he pointed out.
On the development of hypersonic cruise missile BrahMos-II, he said it would travel three times faster than sound.
Replying to a question, he said many countries had evinced interest in buying the supersonic missiles and it was up to the governments of the two countries India and Russia to take a decision.
Link - âAir-launched BrahMos ready to be test-fired next yearâ | idrw.org