Brahmos Supersonic Cruise Missile : News, Updates and Discussions
- Thread starter Manmohan_MMY
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That makes it more important to bring them to our side. ASEAN constrains them from going crazy, so craziness is currently not mainstream. And if they do go that route, we need to make their security dependent on India in the long term rather than the West.
Export stuff is re-tweaked.
Another Brahmos-NG spec sheet:
So, combining the 2 spec sheets the Brahmos-NG compares pretty well with its international counterparts:
Still 2 major points not addressed ie
range extension with better seeker performance + possible IIR seeker ( feasible at such speed? )
Increased payload capacity which the services wanted for the land attack version.
and these 2 points they always avoid answering directly, which suggest capability gap and/or confidential as well as sensitive issue imo. As a throughout anti ship system it is very good obviously, however typically our armed forces wanted it to be dual capable also for land attack. If anything the past 2 years show in the effectiveness criteria it is that many Rus weapons got payload capacity increased.
range extension with better seeker performance + possible IIR seeker ( feasible at such speed? )
Increased payload capacity which the services wanted for the land attack version.
and these 2 points they always avoid answering directly, which suggest capability gap and/or confidential as well as sensitive issue imo. As a throughout anti ship system it is very good obviously, however typically our armed forces wanted it to be dual capable also for land attack. If anything the past 2 years show in the effectiveness criteria it is that many Rus weapons got payload capacity increased.
I always thought the focus with the Brahmos NG was to keep the range at 290 km (to keep exports options open) & instead increase speed.
I think the rumor of Brahmos being nuclear capable isn't completely false.
Range extension on the original version front, not necessarily NG , this one shown is obviously highly export market oriented.
For the nuke they got multiple land vectors and submarine vector that can strike within < 8mins post launch and flying at sub 40km altitude , don't think they are relying on Brahmos for this. In fact much better payload mount for effective strike can be given by other vectors compared to fitting on the brahmos.
I am not saying Brahmos is the primary choice for nuclear strike mission. But I think it is a backup option.
One more tantalising sign that the current Brahmos block is at the 450 km ER version mach 3.5 stage and just like drdo showed the LR version which is 800km and mach 5 is being worked on. Perhaps this is why PJ-10 is so busy as of now and like habit they are going mk1 mk2 style wrt the core missile propulsion and enabling tech (seeker, control guidance algo, electronics, thermal battery, on board cooling etc) wise.
NG version/ALARM-N is mainly export oriented hence excused.
Pic from recent presentation
NG version/ALARM-N is mainly export oriented hence excused.
Pic from recent presentation
There are two extended range versions. One is 450 km at mach 3.2. The other increases speed to mach 4.5, and the increased speed adds another 50 km to the 450 km version.
LR apparently remains at mach 3.2.
There's another version with 1500 km range.
It was advertised before our entry into MTCR. We do not know if the range will be extended post entry or if future versions will be made with extended range. It's possible the delays in design cater to a range extension.
For exports, the warhead will be timed to explode when it breaches the range limit, so that won't matter.
I have very little other data on hand but I suspect those 2 are surface launch and air launched versions of this ER Brahmos. So while the max speed figure can vary, actual development stage wise we are yet to see the LR version which is supposed to be the long range Brahmos.
Not rebuking the other articles, the drdo side development curve seems well set.
I think the lack of engine ToT means we are stuck with the older motor, so the same speed, what with Russia not developing a new one. AL-31FP all over again.
NG comes with a new motor, so that's fine.
We do not need the ramjet tot , the LR version will be modified with likely our own ramjet if it is to have ramjet, that scope is there. Most likely the upgraded LR version will get localised ramjet since they are de-risking major items supply chain.
Now if you are able to scale down and optimise a large article like older Onyx into such a compact package as NG, this creates a baseline for us. This baseline should also be scalable and fed into the LR version that is ramjet being workable in the region of mach 4-6, bigger fuel tank by expanding NG baseline. NG is sub 600 mm, scaling that up to same 600mm with uprated spec can give stable LR version in future.
yet to see the 1500km touted upgrade being a serious prospect from DRDO side and the uniqueness of Onyx/Brahmos would somewhat get lost if expanded to such range. Maybe that's for the scramjet ?
I'm not sure about an Indian ramjet on Brahmos. It will require us sharing such details with the Russians and would have been public knowledge by now.
NG is being made for the airborne role, so it's unlikely to get bigger than what it already is.
Brahmos-1 potential was always 600 km using its base design. That has been increased to 800 km without changes to the airframe. And the 1500 km will see a lengthened airframe. The Oniks-M also comes with 800 km range.
So the 400, 450, and 500 km versions along with the 800 km version will see the same 4T motor. Let's hope the 800 km version has been upgraded to mach 4.5, although I believe it won't be done. So I don't see the 1500 km version changing things midway. NG can potentially carry an Indian motor, but there's no public news about it, and I don't think it will work out very well kicking Russian participation out entirely from the JV. The Russians will prevent it too, they prefer to supply their own 2T motor.
Why so ? certification can be done with CEMILAC RCMA Hyderabad easily without NPOM involvement since Rus are not buying themselves. If Rus had bought then maybe NPOM would have needed one for that, for raw materials GOST is standard practice in this jv too. So the base is covered for Indian use , and possibly export market as well except Russia.
NG is sort of a compact version on the original with same form factor, so if you have already created a miniaturisation, you can easily also scale it up from the combustor and electronics level itself. Then add suitable fuel carriage capacity, unlike the scramjet where the fuel itself is playing the coolant role , here in ramjet mode you may not need that as combustor temp is within tolerance hence lesser fuel for longer flight time. So the option is there where you can extend flight time and get further extended long range.
Political. The IP is co-owned which means the Russians will have to sign-off on it, and they are not going to. If we want to use our own ramjet, it's going to have to be on new Indian designs, like LRLACM and STAR. We can always design a Brahmos++ with a 500 kg warhead, if necessary.
At 6m long, it's already at the limit of ground clearance for takeoff and landing when on wings. Increasing the length will push it out of the inventory of most jets. So the best they can do is play around with internal layout, smaller electronics, better fuel quality, and motor efficiency if they want more range.