Tuesday, January 27, 2009

BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile - 10th Anniversary

(Click Image to view larger picture)

We can view the missile being launched from an Indian Naval Ship

Date of Issue: December 22, 2008

BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia's NPO Mashinostroeyenia who have together formed the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited.

The acronym BrahMos is perceived as the confluence of the two nations represented by two great rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia. At speeds of Mach 2.5 to 2.8, it is the world's fastest cruise missile and is about three and a half times faster than the U.S.A's subsonic Harpoon cruise missile. A hypersonic version of the missile is also presently under development (Lab Tested with 5.26 Mach Speed).

The missile is in service with the Indian Navy. Talwar class frigate and Shivalik class frigate are frigates of the Indian Navy that can fire the BrahMos. INS Tabar and INS Trishul are Talwar class vessels armed with supersonic BrahMos while INS Shivalik was the first vessel of the Shivalik class to incorporate the BrahMos. Other vessels of the Shivalik Class and Talwar Class are to be armed with BrahMos missiles by 2009 and 2010 respectively. In 2007, the navy promised to arm the Godavari class frigates and Brahmaputra class frigates with the BrahMos too. Rajput class destroyers are Destroyers of the Indian Navy that can fire the BrahMos. The INS Rajput, INS Ranvir (D54) and INS Ranvijay (D55) which are modified versions of Soviet Kashin class destroyers have been fitted with BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile systems. The new class of destroyers namely Kolkata Class are also to be fitted with the BrahMos and there are plans to arm the rest of the vessels of the Rajput Class with BrahMos too. On the other hand the Delhi class destroyers are to be modified to incorporate the BrahMos. The first of the Kolkata Class should roll out in 2012 while the Delhi Class and Rajput will be armed with the Brahmos by 2009.

The submarine launched version of the missile is ready for testing. The missile will be either tested on a Kilo class submarine of the Indian Navy or will be tested in Russia. The land attack version of the missile was fired from Destroyer INS Rajput and the missile hit and destroyed the right target among a group of targets. The vertical launch of Brahmos was conducted on December 18, 2008 from INS Ranvir (D54).

INS Rajput served as the trials ship for the PJ-10 (BrahMos) cruise missile, which is expected to carry part of the strategic second-strike capability of the armed forces. The missile has been test fired four times - 12 February 2003, 23 November 2003, 03 November 2004 and 15 April 2005 - from INS Rajput.

Russian Navy

According to sources the BrahMos could be fitted to the updated Gorshkov class of frigates which will be entering the Russian navy soon. Although it is stated that Russian navy had not originally planned on using the BrahMos system it may still consider doing so under pressure from India. The defense ministry reported that due to the size and hull specifications of the BrahMos, few if any of its new ships will be able to accommodate it.

For more details on BrahMos, click here.

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Technical Description
Stamp and FDC Design: Kamleshwar Singh
Cancellation Design: Alka Sharma
Printer: India Security Press, Nashik
Process: Photogravure
Value: Rs. 25
Printed Quantity: 0.2 million

BrahMos launched vertically from INS Ranvir

Source: wikipedia, bharat-rakshak.com

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