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The BrahMos success story

Another dimension was added recently to the remarkable success story of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system when it was test-fired, with a manoeuvrable trajectory, for the Army from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea in Orissa. In an experiment conducted for the first time in the world, the missile was manoeuvred in the form of an `S' at the supersonic speed of 2.8 Mach. A mission highlight was the use of the mobile autonomous launcher integrated with the mobile command post incorporating control, communication, computer and intelligence, and the latest software technology to bring out the best use of the weapon. This was the 13th flight of BrahMos, a joint venture product of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India and NPO Mashinostroyenia, a space-missile enterprise of the Russian Federation. The joint venture, established through an inter-governmental agreement of February 1998, has been brilliantly cost effective: BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited was set up with an authorised capital of $250 million (50.5 per cent of which came from the Indian side).

The design and development of BrahMos — whose range has been kept just below 300 km in compliance with the Missile Technology Control Regime — is a major riposte to the regime of technology denial. It exemplifies Indo-Russian cooperation in the military field for the contemporary era, with Russia providing the propulsion and India the guidance and control. India's advances in avionics and guidance algorithm, proven in various missile projects over a period of time, came in handy to improve these capabilities and incorporate them in BrahMos. Large-scale industrial complexes have been set up to produce the missile in both countries with inter-change capability. BrahMos is a two-stage missile that stands nine metres tall and weighs 3.9 tonnes with the canister. It carries non-nuclear warheads weighing 300 kg. It is a versatile missile that can be launched from ships, submarines, silos, and mobile launch complexes using the same configuration. It can be fired from land or sea. The missile has already been inducted into the Navy. The Air Force version is being developed for flight trials in a year's time. The submarine version is ready and will be launched by the end of this year if a suitable platform is available. The January 2007 visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India gave a major push to the joint venture, clearing the way for the export of the missile to friendly countries and for developing a hypersonic version that will travel at 5 Mach to 7 Mach. It is to the credit of India and Russia that BrahMos has travelled from `mind to market' in six years.

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