A scale model of the supersonic Russian-Indian BrahMos cruise missile is currently on display at the International Maritime Defense Show in St. Petersburg. While visiting this defense exhibition earlier in the week, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin specifically pointed to the Russian government's constant attention to this joint project.
BrahMos, a confluence of the names of the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva, respectively, is a short-range supersonic missile, which has been used by the Indian Navy since 2005.
Touted by its developers as a missile which has no analogues in the world, BrahMos is currently capable of hitting targets beyond the radar horizon and can be launched from sea-based and land-based weapon systems.
The nine-meter-long BrahMos can travel at a speed of Mach 2.8 (about 952 meters per second), making it one of the fastest missiles in the world. It has a flight range of up to 290 km and carries a 200-300 kg conventional warhead.
According to India's Economic Times, BrahMos has a "fire and forget" principle of operation, which means that the missile does not require further guidance after its launch and "still hits the target without the launcher being in line-of-sight of the target."
The newspaper described the Brahmos missile as "the most lethal and potent weapon system for precision strikes available in the Indian Army."
In this vein, experts specifically touted the missile's operating simplicity, its effective overcoming of antimissile defenses (at altitudes up to 10 meters) and a huge damage capacity due to imparting vast kinetic energy on a target.
In an interview with Sputnik, Alexander Maksichev, managing co-director of BrahMos Aerospace, said that "in St. Petersburg, we are demonstrating the full range of combat capabilities of BrahMos, which is capable of equally effectively destroying both sea and coastal targets."
He added that "in July-August, we are completing the integration of the missile with the Su-30MKI fighter jet, something that will significantly expand BrahMos' combat capabilities.".
Maksichev also said that many Asian countries have already signaled an interest in buying the missile, with BrahMos Aerospace currently focusing on meeting India's internal needs.
Indian scientists tested the land version of the BrahMos missile in April when it hit a target at a distance of approximately 450 kilometers (around 280 miles) in the Bay of Bengal. Apart from design modifications, the missile's weight has also been reduced by the manufacturer to integrate it with the Su-30 MKI.
It is anticipated that approximately 20 trials will be made before BrahMos missiles are ready for introduction into the Indian Air Force (IAF). The IAF is expected to equip 42 Su-30 MKIs with the 2016 Brahmos missile.
