India and Russia could be one of the first nations in the world to flight test hypersonic missiles, which fly at five to seven times the speed of sound.
“The Hypersonic BrahMos version would be ready for flight testing in 2017,” Sivathanu Pillai, chief executive officer of the Russia-India joint venture BrahMos Aerospace said in Moscow. The new missiles would be capable of flying at speeds of Mach 5-Mach 7.
“I think we will need about five years to develop the first fully-functional prototype (of the hypersonic missile)”, he announced, adding “we have already carried out a series of lab tests at the speed of 6.5 Mach”.
India and Russia appear to be close to the U.S. which claimed last year to have successfully tested a missile that travels at five times the speed of sound.
After the test, media reports said that advanced hypersonic missile would be able to bomb anywhere in the world within an hour.
Mr. Pillai said that the new missile will be made in three variants — ground-launched, airborne, and sea-launched.
The official said the new missiles will be supplied only to India and Russia, without exports to third countries.
The BrahMos Aerospace joint venture currently manufactures BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles based on the Russian-designed NPO Mashinostroyenie 3M55 Yakhont (SS-N-26).
The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 km and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg. It can effectively engage targets from an altitude as low as 10 m and has a top speed of Mach 2.8, which is about three times faster than the U.S.-made subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile.
Sea- and ground-launched versions have been successfully tested and put into service with the Indian Army and Navy.
The flight tests of the airborne version will be completed by the end of 2012.
The Indian Air Force is planning to arm 40 Su-30MKI Flanker-H fighters with BrahMos missiles.
This step will add to the strength and progress of our nation
Ramdhari Singh "Dinkar" once said, "Sach pucho to shar main hi basti hai
dipti vinay ki, sandhi vachan sanpujai usi ke jisme shakti vijay ki."
Ahimsa can only be practised under secure borders and to secure our
borders we need such weapons.
China has successfully returned to Earth with the first female Astronaut after a successful space mission. India is working on a high speed missile!! We're supposed to be a nation known for Ahimsa!!!
go ahead india..we are with you
Way to go! Wishing you all the success. Aerospace and Defence are probably the only sectors that are free of corruption and mediocrity (barring a few cases ofcourse).
Although I hope and doubt we will ever be able to use our military might to deter Pakistan or China from infiltrating our territory, it is still a feel good factor (though sponsoring a one-time-a-day meal for the poorer sections of the society would have given me a greater kick than a successful missile test).
Anyways, good going!
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