Quote:TNN, Mar 22, 2010,

NEW DELHI: India on Sunday again tested the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which the armed forces are already inducting as a `precision' strike weapon, from a moving warship INS Ranvir off the Orissa coast.



"The missile was launched from the vertical launcher fitted on INS Ranvir at a decommissioned target ship, INS Meen, and hit it perfectly. The launch met all mission requirements and was 100% successful," BrahMos Aerospace chief A S Pillai told TOI.



"The test was important since the missile, which flies at speeds of 2.8 Mach, performed supersonic maneuvering after being launched from the vertical launcher and homed on to the target successfully," he added.



The Navy has already inducted the 290-km range BrahMos missiles on some warships, having earlier placed orders worth Rs 711 crore for 49 firing units in `inclined launcher configurations'. It's now gearing up to induct these air-breathing missiles in the `vertical launcher configuration as well'.



This is significant since `vertical launchers' are fitted under the warship's deck, protecting them from the atmospheric conditions and imparting some stealth to the weapon system. It also allows the missile to be fired in any direction.



"With vertical launchers, the missile can be fired at any target in the entire 360 degree spectrum," said Pillai. Two such modules, with 16 missiles, are to be fitted in each of the three Kolkata-class P-15A destroyers being built at Mazagon Docks at a cost of Rs 11,662 crore. BrahMos will also arm the three more Talwar-class `stealth' frigates being built at Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad (Russia) under a Rs 5,514 crore project.



The Army, on its part, is on course to induct two more regiments of the BrahMos Block-II land-attack cruise missiles (LACM), which have been designed as `precision strike weapons' capable of hitting small targets in cluttered urban environments, as first reported by TOI earlier.



Swift induction of BrahMos Block-II is necessary because Pakistan army is inducting its nuclear-capable Babur LACM, developed with China's help to have a 500-km strike range, in large numbers. BrahMos-II can potentially be used for `surgical strikes' at terror training camps across the border without causing collateral damage.



One regiment of the 290-km range BrahMos-I variant, which consists of 67 missiles, five mobile autonomous launchers on 12x12 Tatra vehicles and two mobile command posts, among other equipment, is already operational in the Army. It had earlier ordered two BrahMos regiments in the first phase at a cost of Rs 8,352 crore.



The BrahMos Block-II variant has been developed to take out a specific small target, with a low radar cross-section, in a multi-target environment.



But the work on submarine and air-launched versions of BrahMos is still going quite slow. While talks with Russia are now in the final stages for BrahMos' integration with Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, the missile will be tested for the first time from submersible pontoon launchers this year in preparation for their induction on submarines.



Incidentally, India and Russia have also begun preliminary work on a `hypersonic' BrahMos-2 missile capable of flying at a speed between 5 and 7 Mach, as reported earlier.



The armed forces' eventual plan is to have nuclear-tipped LACMs, with strike ranges over 1,500 km. Unlike ballistic missiles like Agni, cruise missiles do not leave the atmosphere and are powered and guided throughout their flight path.



Cruise missiles, which can evade enemy radars and air defence systems since they fly at low altitudes, are also much cheaper as well as more accurate and easier to operate than ballistic missiles.

Quote:T.S. Subramanian

It smashes into Navy's decommissioned vessel, 290 km away, in Bay of Bengal



A file photo of the BrahMos missile.



CHENNAI: BrahMos, the supersonic cruise missile, lifted off vertically from Naval destroyer INS Ranvir and punched a hole in a decommissioned vessel 290 km away in the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast on Sunday.



The missile, which was fired at 11.30 a.m. from INS Ranvir, climbed 200 metres vertically, then manoeuvred at supersonic speeds to cruise horizontally before smashing into the vessel INS Meen.



This is the 22nd launch of BrahMos, which has already been inducted into the Army and the Navy. It has been jointly developed by India and Russia.



According to A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, it was “a perfect mission” with the missile hitting the target precisely. Helicopters, which flew over the site of the target, had confirmed that INS Meen had been hit and damaged. It was taking in water.



Dr. Pillai said there were several advantages when the missile was launched vertically from a ship. It provided 360 degrees coverage of the target. In a vertical mode, the space it occupied in the ship was less. The missile could be totally hidden. This vertical launch was uniquely designed.



“No equivalent”



He called BrahMos “a formidable weapon”, which had “no equivalent.” It had a successful track record. The missile is nine-metre long and weighs three tonnes. It can fly at almost three times the speed of sound and can reach targets 290 km away. It is essentially an anti-ship missile.



Pat for engineers



President Pratibha Patil and Defence Minister A.K. Antony congratulated the missile engineers and the Naval personnel on the successful launch, Dr. Pillai said.

Quote: HYDERABAD, March 22, 2010

Y. Mallikarjun



Notwithstanding the recent failure of the interceptor missile test, the first phase of the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence System to intercept and destroy incoming enemy missiles of less than 2,000-km range is expected to be deployed in two years.Disclosing this to The Hindu recently, V.K. Saraswat, Director-General, Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, said the first phase would be made operational through the new concept of ‘capability-based deployment.' The Air Defence Programme has been divided into two parts — depending upon the threat perception. While the first category of threats pertains to enemy missiles with less than 2,000-km range, the second type belongs to those with more than 2,000 km. Both the phases will have two layers. The aim of the two-tier system is to first destroy an incoming missile, at a higher altitude, in the exo-atmosphere above 50 km. If that does not happen, the endo-atmospheric interception will take place up at the height of 30 km from the earth.



The DRDO has developed the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for exo-atmospheric interception and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) system for endo-atmosphere interception.



With a fresh interceptor missile test in the endo-atmosphere planned in a couple of months, some more trials were planned for 2010-11 and 2011-12 to ensure reliability, repeatability and suitability for deploying phase-1assets, Dr. Saraswat said.



Simultaneously, DRDO scientists have started work on phase-II solutions. It requires radars of longer range and new hypersonic interceptor missiles flying at Mach 6 with agility and the capability to discriminate against ballistic missile defence counter measures. “Our effort is to have interception at very high altitudes, and the entire system will be able to handle multiple, simultaneous attacks,” he said.



A crucial requirement for the second phase is a floating test-range — a complete launch station from which interceptors will be fired. Scientists have started designing the ship and associated systems such as radar, mission control centre, launch control centre, communication network and many other equipment needed for phase-II trials.



The ‘capability-based deployment,' under which a system would be put to use, as it got perfected, had paid rich dividends for some countries, Dr. Saraswat said. The entire work on the two phases was planned to be completed by 2016.