India will put about $250 million into the joint Indo-Russia effort to develop a Mach 5 version of its BrahMos cruise missile. This scramjet version is already in advanced development and will enter service in six or seven years, said sources with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Building on the success of the first Mach 2.8 BrahMos, the program’s second phase will aim to develop faster and reusable cruise missiles with a range of 299 kilometers, the DRDO sources said.
In December, BrahMos Aerospace took over the state-owned electronics company Kerala High-tech Industries, and opened formal operations on Jan. 1 to develop the new cruise missiles and assemble and produce others. The new unit, BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram, is located in the southern state of Kerala, the home state of Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
A Defence Ministry official said India needs better cruise missiles in the next four to five years to stay ahead of its competitors.
The hypersonic cruise missile will give India naval supremacy over China, said Zachariah Mathews, a retired Indian Navy commodore.
The current BrahMos missile, a joint venture of the DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia, can carry a conventional warhead of 660 pounds, fly 290 kilometers at 10 meters’ altitude, and cruise at Mach 2.8, about three times faster than the U.S. Tomahawk, DRDO sources said. The two-stage, 9-meter-long BrahMos is in service with the Indian Army and Navy, and the air version is ready for induction on India’s Su-30 MKI aircraft.