India is in talks with the UAE to sell the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, while separately, New Delhi is working on two parallel strategic paths for future versions of the missile that played a key role against Pakistan during Operation Sindoor last year.
One of the paths is to miniaturise the missile, which is named BrahMos-NG, and enable its deployment on a variety of fighter jets. The second path is to extend its range to strike targets beyond 1,500 km.
So far, a specific smaller version of the conventional BrahMos is matted onto Sukhoi-30MKI jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and was launched during Operation Sindoor. The miniature version would be lighter enabling other jets like the LCA Tejas, having much less payload carrying capacity than the Sukhoi, to carry the missile.
Brahmos Aerospace Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Jaiteerth Joshi, speaking at an event during the weekend, revealed the plans, saying, “We are going with the BrahMos-NG for additional distances, very large distances”.
The missile is being made into a sleeker version with composite materials so that it becomes lighter, Joshi said.
“We are looking at ranges of 1,500 km plus… we are working on it. Once the basic design is proven and simulation studies are done, we will come back to what will be the exact range,” Joshi said at the event at Nagpur. The BrahMos-NG could weigh 1.-1.5 tonnes and measure less than 6 metres in length; it can travel at speeds up to Mach 3.5 (Mach being the measure for speed of sound). Ground integration and design validation are in advanced stages.
