Russia and India intend to make 1,000 BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles over the next ten years through their joint venture company, and nearly 50 percent of them are expected to be sold to other countries, defense sources said Friday.
Noting that BrahMos is the world’s only supersonic cruise missile without a competitor, Sivathanu Pillai stressed the need for retaining that competitive edge.
“Having reached this stage, it’s necessary that we keep that edge. We are definitely working on that (an upgraded version of BrahMos).”
The 2.5-ton BrahMos has a strike range of 290 km and has a maximum speed of Mach 2.8 (one km per second).
When I first read about this, I figured they were running just a bit over supersonic speed — not Mach 2.8!
And they are probably selling them to North Korea and Iran. Putin is a scum bag. He has no problem selling deadly tech to the highest bidder, no matter their agenda. He was in bed with Sadam and probably Jong Il too. Not to mention the fact that he would love nothing more then to bring back the glory days of the old Soviet Union.
I don’t have any statistics off the top of my head, but I’d bet the average for most modern missiles is mach 2+. Faster speeds result in shorter enemy human and electronic countermeasure reaction time.
“The 2.5-ton BrahMos has a strike range of 290 km and has a maximum speed of Mach 2.8 (one km per second).”
I’ll bet most of that weight is fuel. At that speed it would be a very thirsty bird. Limiting it’s range and not leaving much for a payload… I Hope ! 😉
The reason a cruise missile is called a cruise missile is beause it “cruises.” They can fly within a city. These devices here are essentially rockets (although they apparently use a pointless jet engine) being called cruise missiles. It’s a crock.
The newest iterations of true cruise missiles (SLAM’s) will have vid cams so they can be remotely guided to a target. This won’t work at these speeds.
some clarifications
BrahMos (in short for brahmputra- a river in india and moscow) is mainly an anti-ship missile hence is not meant for a very long range.
Missile has already been developed and is in late stages of testing. It has been successfully test fired multiple times and other improvised versions are also being developed.
Also, It was US and not Soviet Union who was in bed with Saddam when he was fighting Iran. It was US only who fed taliban with stinger missiles against soviet invasion.
It is also better than SLAMs by being faster and longer ranged making it ‘fire and forget’ rather than guided.
3. I was just wondering what the payload on these things would be, given alleged Mach 2.8 performance.
And I gotta find myself in disagreement with JCD – the SLAM (standoff land attack missile) is but one version of a cruise missile. those would be air-launch. gotcher Tomahawks for land-attack and Harpoons for sea-attack as well.
top-notch cruise missiles (like the Tomahawk) are going to have GPS guidance. that’s what they replaced the Tomahawk’s 80s-era guidance system with.
video cameras would require the operator to have some visual familiarity with the target from the angle of attack, which could be problematical for countries that do not quite have the US’s reconaisance system.
#5 SOORY.. It’s moskva and not moscow
I’ve been wandering about the Web — reading up on this critter since I Posted [it’s all Mike Voice’s fault].
The funniest message boards have all the arguments and flames between Russians — Indians — Pakistanis!
A number of folks think the Indians & Russians are deliberately underestimating the actual range of this critter. Warhead payload is at least 200 kg.. Propulsion is by ramjet — my favorite stovepipe.
Well, it seems deadly enough, but how’s the tech support?
“Hello, this is John Smith from Kansa. What problems are you having with your missile?”
How come in the first Gulf War we were fighting Saddam’s Russian Tanks, SCUD missles and AK-47’s? Also, the Taliban did not really exist in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. We were supplying the Mujahadeen (sp?) which was not affiliated with either the Taliban or Al Quiada. Those groups were Saudia Arabian groups kicked out of their home country. Although it is true many of the former Mujahadeen became part of the Taliban and Al Quiada, they are not the same groups with the same goals.
8 [it’s all Mike Voice’s fault].
Sure, blame the dumb-looking one… [grin]
Now post some more scantily-clad women… I’m willing to take the blame for that!
It is so difficult to know a cruise missile is headed your way now. If it is coming at mach 2+, we will never know what hit us.
Russia may not be a strong as the US militarily, but they still have a lot of imposing hardware. India is emerging and is really becoming a techno powerhouse. I am more worried about this development then the idea that Iran might have a civilian nuclear program.
Once Tehran is able to deliver those nukes a little further than 6 blocks down and 2 blocks to the west, you might want to worry Fusion.
Teheran still need make those nukes and this is some years ahead still.
And this “big guns” showoff is a purely smokescreen thing. For Iran I mean. Having a small nuke or a dirty bomb is much more effective for a country like this. If they were serious about it they could deploy a dirty bomb to hizbollah and using those rockets they already have, would inflict real damage.
Big guns displays are for big business negotiations…
“Also, It was US and not Soviet Union who was in bed with Saddam when he was fighting Iran. It was US only who fed taliban with stinger missiles against soviet invasion.”
Yes thats true, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. But during the years leading up to the second gull war, Putin was a big time trading partner with Saddam, as was Chiroc of France (the main reasons they were against any military action against him, it was not moral, but purly economic) They supplied him with everything.
gq, sorry to disappoint you, but Iraq had no BIG trading partners between the two Gulf Wars. Yes, France and Russia did trade with Iraq. But then so did virtually every other country with access, including the US. Only Iraq chose to deal with countries other then the US and UK as they were still flying and bombing Iraqi territory at the time.
I don’t think any nation wants to see rogue elements like al Quaeda or Hezbollah have access to nuclear weapons. The potential for use against themselves ends up being too overwhelming. The best use of nuclear weapons is the deterrent factor. No one will want to invade you if they know they might be nuked. The rogue elements have much less compunction about this though.