..:: India Strategic ::.. Missiles: BrahMos develops Block II for precision strike

British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns | Theresa May takes over as new UK PM | May becomes second British woman PM after Margaret Thatcher | Cameron announced resignation following Brexit, a referendum for UK's exit from EU June 23 | International Tribunal demolishes China's claims over South China Sea | Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague says China has no legal basis to claim regional waters and build islets | The Tribunal also held China guilty of damaging coral reefs and natural environment | China has border maritime problems with all its neighbours | China rejected the decision, saying it is invalid and has no binding force | India, Tanzania agree to deepen overall defence and security partnership, especially in the maritime domain | Both nations agreed to work closely, bilaterally, regionally and globally to combat twin threats of terrorism, climate change | Prime Minister visiting Tanzania in the last leg of his visit to 4 African nations July 7-11 | Boeing, Mahindra Defence open C-17 Training Centre for IAF | Terrorism is the gravest security threat facing the world today, says PM Modi during Mozambique visit | Terrorism impacts India and Mozambique equally | NASA spacecraft Juno reaches Jupiter | Juno crossed violent radiation and flew 130,000 miles/hour | Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system | Juno should be in Jpiter orbit for 20 months to send data | The $1.1 billion Juno mission took five years to reach Jupiter | LCA 'Tejas' joins Indian Air Force | Tejas is an indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft | The single-seat, single-engine, multi-role light fighter is designed by ADA and manufactured by HAL | India test-fires new surface-to-air missile from a defence base in Balasore off Odisha coast | The new missile is jointly developed by India and Israel | Abdul Majeed Al Khoori appointed Acting CEO of the Abu Dhabi Airports | Eng. Mohamed Mubarak Al Mazrouei becomes Advisor to the Abu Dhabi Airports Chairman | Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar hands over 'Varunastra' to Indian Navy | Varunastra is an advanced heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo | It is indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by DRDO | India officially joins Missile Technology Control Regime | With this India becomes 35th member of the MTCR | Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar signed the document of accession into MTCR in Seoul June 27 | The document was signed in presence of Ambassadors of France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg - the Chair and two co-chairs of the Regime | India had applied for the membership in 2015 | India finalises deal for 145 BAE Systems M777 artillery guns | This is Indian Army's first artillery deal in 30 years | Britain votes to leave EU, Pound crashes | 52 per cent voted Leave and 48 Remain in historic referendum | British Prime Minister David Cameron announces to resign before October over UK's exit | Leave process will take about two years though | Markets hit worldwide, including in India | China scuttles India's NSG bid | India joins SCO | India, apart from Pakistan, was admitted as full member of SCO during its Ufa Summit in July 2015 | After completing certain procedures, India now technically entered into SCO | India had an observer status for past 10 years prior to entering into six member regional bloc | No consensus on India's membership in NSG | China and five other countries oppose India's entry as New Delhi has not signed NPT | China insists Pakistan must also enter NSG if India's application is accepted | Pakistan is China's only military ally and is also known as a nuclear, missile and terror proliferator (NMTP) | Indian Space Agency ISRO successfully launches 20 satellites in one rocket | This is the biggest launch in ISRO's history | The satellites were launched onboard PSLV C-34 from SDSC (SHAR) Sriharikota | PSLV C-34 was carrying 17 satellites from US, Canada, Germany, Indonesia and 3 from India | Government of India approves 100% FDI in defence and civil aviation sectors | In defence, foreign investment beyond 49% (and up to 100%) permitted through the government approval route | This is in cases of access to modern technology in the country | For aviation, the government allowed 100% FDI in India-based airlines | The decision on FDI reforms taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi | India confident of getting into NSG, says External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj | India is working with China to win support | India will not oppose any country's membership proposal, EAM told a news conference |

Home

Editorial

BrahMos develops Block II for precision strike

Published : April 2009

New Delhi. BrahMos Aerospace has developed the Block II version of its supersonic BrahMos missile to reduce clutter and home on to specific targets.

The new version with improved software was test-fired for the third time on March 29th, meeting all the parameters specified by the Indian Army, and declared “ready for induction” for land attack role up to a target of 290 km. The range of the missile is limited below 300 km and the payload is also restricted to less than 500 kg in accordance with the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) which India has observed without being a signatory.

Notably though, the other equal partner in the BrahMos venture, Russia, is a signatory to the MTCR, and therefore obliged not to cross these limitations.

India holds 50.50 per cent of the BrahMos shares, and Russia, 49.50.

A statement released by the BrahMos Aerospace and India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said that the new missile, fired at 1115 IST from a mobile launcher at the Pokhran test range in western India, “hit the desired target at bull’s eye, meeting all mission parameters.”

The new system has an advanced seeker, or a homing device, to lead the missile to the chosen target despite the number of other similar looking targets around it.

Pictures and video footage of the test were released to the media.

Top Army officers, Lt Gen A S Sekhon, Director General Military Operations (DGMO), Lt Gen K R Rao, Commandant School of Artillery, Devlali, and Maj Gen V K Tiwari, Additional Director General Artillery, were present to witness the successful test. The Army Headquarters would shortly take a decision on inducting the new missile in line with their recommendations.

Noted missile scientist Dr A Sivathanu Pillai, Chairman and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace was himself present at the test firing along with Mr P Venugopalan, Director Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Hyderabad (DRDL), Project Director S Som and Executive Director (Production) Rear Admiral (Retd) S. Mohapatra and other senior scientists.

It may be recalled that Indian missile scientists have achieved a steady stream of successes in missilery in the recent years, and thanks to the Indo-Russian collaboration, the Indian Army is already the first one to possess supersonic missiles for land attack role.

The statement said that “with this launch the requirement of Army for the Land attack version with Block-II advanced seeker software with target discriminating capabilities has been fully met and this version is ready for induction.

“This will provide an enhanced capability to the user for selection of a particular land target amongst a group of targets.”

The statement pointed out: With this success, BrahMos has become the only supersonic cruise missile possessing this advanced capability in the world providing an edge to the user with precision hit.

(And) The Indian Army is the first army in the world to have a regiment of supersonic cruise missile with advanced capabilities.”