BrahMos,
the Russian-Indian supersonic cruise missile joint venture, is to test-fire
their anti-ship missile from a submarine platform by year-end, the Russian
partner NPO Mashninostroyenie said Friday.
"We need a test-launch by the end of the year," said the company's
Deputy General Director Alexander Dergachev. "A decision will be
made on whether the weapon can be accepted for service with the Indian
Navy, dependent on the outcome," he added.
The test will be a single demonstration firing from a submerged
raft, he said. "When an operational carrier has been chosen, then
further trials will continue," he said.
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BrahMos, set up in 1998, produces three variants
of the BrahMos missile, based on the NPO Mashinostroyenie 3M55 Yakhont
(NATO SS-N-26) supersonic cruise missile already in service with Russia's
Armed Forces.
The Indian Army has already taken delivery of the land-launched variant.
The Navy already has the ship-launched missiles on ten vessels, Dergachev
said. The Indian Air Force will also use the weapon, from an upgraded
batch of 42 Sukhoi Su-30MKI strike fighters it is expected to order
later this year, Russia's Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said earlier
this week in Delhi.
"The missile had a range of 300 kilometers (180 miles), and will
be vertically-launched by a gas generator in its launch container, which
will eject the weapon by gas pressure, after which it will reach Mach
two," he said.
BrahMos can fly as low as 30 feet (10 m) or attack its target from a
high angle, combined with supersonic speed and evasive maneuvering.
BrahMos can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg (660 lbs).
Earlier this week, Russian daily Izvestia quoted defense industry sources
as saying India has uprated its BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles by
installing the advanced satellite navigation systems from Russia's Kh-555
and Kh-101 strategic long-range cruise missiles, adding GPS-GLONASS
technology to the existing doppler-inertial platform.
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