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NEW DELHI India successfully fired the extended range variant of the BrahMos missile from a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft on Thursday, with the weapon achieving a direct hit on the designated target in the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said in a statement.
“It was the first launch of the extended range version of BrahMos from Su-30MKI aircraft. With this, the IAF has achieved the capability to carry out precision strikes from Su-30MKI aircraft against a land/sea target over very long ranges,” the air force said, announcing the launch.
The extended range capability of the missile, coupled with the high performance of the Su-30MKI aircraft, gives the IAF “strategic reach” and allows it to “dominate the future battlefields”, the IAF added.
The BrahMos missile, an Indo-Russian joint venture, has a range of 290km and is the fastest cruise missile in the world with a top speed of Mach 2.8 (nearly three times the speed of sound). The extended range variant tested by IAF on Thursday has a range of 450-500 km, people familiar with the matter said on the condition of anonymity.
“It gives you extended range and standoff capabilities, and that is a game changer,” said Air Vice Marshal Anil Golani (retd), additional director general, Centre for Air Power Studies.
Increasing the missile’s range became possible after India’s induction into the Missile Technology Control Regime in June 2016. India is also laying the groundwork to develop an even longer range BrahMos missile, capable of striking targets more than 800km away.
On March 9, India accidentally fired a BrahMos missile into Pakistan, with human error causing the unprecedented incident. The inadvertent release of the missile took place during routine inspection and maintenance of the system. Days after the incident, defence minister Rajnath Singh said that standard operating procedures (SOPs) for “operations, maintenance, and inspection” of such systems were being reviewed.
In January, Philippines confirmed it will acquire three batteries of the BrahMos missile in a deal worth almost $375 million, a development expected to boost India’s efforts to become a major exporter of defence hardware.
BrahMos variants can be launched from land, air and sea, and all three variants are in service in the Indian armed forces.
In 2020, the country upgraded its capabilities to keep a watch on the strategically important Indian Ocean Region and deliver an offensive option swiftly, if necessary, with the air force basing its Su-30 fighters in southern India for the first time, at Thanjavur air force station in Tamil Nadu.
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