Brahmos missile

Why is in news? SUCCESSFUL FIRING OF EXTENDED RANGE VERSION OF BRAHMOS AIR LAUNCHED MISSILE AGAINST SHIP TARGET FROM SU-30 MKI AIRCRAFT

Indian Air Force today successfully fired the Extended Range Version of Brahmos Air Launched missile against a Ship Target from a SU-30MKI aircraft.

The missile achieved the desired mission objectives in the Bay of Bengal region

With this, IAF has achieved a significant capability boost to carry out precision strikes from SU-30MKI aircraft against land/ sea targets over very long ranges.

The extended range capability of the missile coupled with the high performance of the SU-30MKI aircraft gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the future battle fields.

The dedicated and synergetic efforts of IAF, Indian Navy, DRDO, BAPL and HAL have been instrumental in achieving this feat.

Brahmos:

Brahmos is the supersonic cruise missile.

It is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India (DRDO) and the NPOM of Russia.

It is named after two important rivers; Brahmaputra and Moskva of India and Russia respectively.

It is a two-stage missile, with a solid propellant engine in the first stage and a liquid ramjet in the second.

It can be launched from multiplatform, i.e land, air and sea.

It works on the ‘Fire and Forgets’ principle i.e., it needs no mid-air guiding mandates.

Brahmos is the fastest cruise missile in the world currently with the speed of Mach 2.8 (roughly 3 times more than the speed of sound).

The range of the advanced version of the missile has increased from 290 kms (Brahmos) to 350 kms.