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First tests of air-launched BrahMos missiles planned for 1st quarter of 2015 in India

The BrahMos missiles are being adapted for the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter

BANGALORE, February 18. /TASS/. Indian specialists are currently completing the work to adapt the Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter, supplied to the Indian Air Force, for mounting the BrahMos missiles in accordance with the design documentation of JSC Sukhoi, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Anatoly Punchuk said on Wednesday.

"We have learned that the first test launches of the BrahMos missiles are planned before the end of the first quarter of 2015," he told reporters at the Aero India 2015 international aerospace show where he heads the Russian delegation.

Earlier this month, the leadership of India’s state-run aircraft corporation Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) told TASS that the air-launched version of the BrahMos-A supersonic cruise missile was successfully integrated with the first Su-30 MKI fighter.

The company said that several key changes, including redistribution of load on the fighters’ load-carrying units have been made in the past 6 - 7 months after the jet’s bed tests. "The Russian side sent a whole team of technical advisers to assist us in solving a most complicated problem of placing a 9-metre missile on the jet by way of changing the fuselage design," HAL director S. Subramanian said.

According to him, "the first tests that will make it possible to assess the results of joint two-year work of Indian and Russian aircraft designers will be conducted in March." The preparation of the second fighter for tests is to begin after the March trials. According to the schedule, this work will take about a year. In the future, the developed scheme is to be applied at 42 Su-30MKI fighters of the Indian Air Force.

In October 2012, the Indian government’s security committee approved the allocation of $1.1 billion for the purchase of 200 BrahMos-A missiles to be installed on Indian Air Force Su-30MKI fighters.

The air-launched version of the BhaMos missile is 500 kg lighter and 0.5 meters shorter than its sea-launched version for successful integration with the fighter.

BrahMos a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine as its first stage which brings it to supersonic speed and then gets separated. The liquid ramjet or the second stage then takes the missile closer to 3 Mach speed in cruise phase. Stealth technology and guidance system with advanced embedded software provides the missile with special features.

The missile has flight range of up to 290-km with supersonic speed all through the flight, leading to shorter flight time, consequently ensuring lower dispersion of targets, quicker engagement time and non-interception by any known weapon system in the world.