Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Brahmos Cruise Missile ( Image credits- Reuters / VOA) Source- The Diplomat Author- Saurav Jha Long among the world’s top importers of weapons, India now wants to turn its military related trade into a two-way affair by enhancing defense exports from its soil. This new emphasis on exporting military wares has yielded early results with Indian defense exports doubling over the course of the past year to about $330 million. India’s defense minister Manohar Parrikar, however, has set his sights higher and wants annual military exports to touch $2 billion in a couple of years. While the initial growth in sales has been driven by exports of military stores due to the removal of excessive controls, reaching Parrikar’s target would require Indian diplomacy to re-orient itself toward securing weapons contracts for major indigenously-developed systems under the aegis of the government’s “Strategy for Defense Exports” (SDE). SDE, which is overseen by the Department of Defense Prod

IAF SU-30 MKI ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons) Source- Russia & India Report Author- Rakesh Krishnan Simha India has signalled its intent to strike enemy targets with devastating force early on in a conflict. On June 25 a modified Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft carried a Brahmos-A (Air) supersonic cruise missile aloft for the first time, marking an important milestone in the development of the missile ahead of further flights and firing tests. The twin-seat multirole fighter took off from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd airport in Bengaluru and conducted a 45 minute sortie with the missile attached to its underbelly. Developed jointly by India's Defence Research & Development Organisation and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, Brahmos-A is a modified variant of its basic configuration. "It features several design refinements, which include a lighter propulsion system (reduced to 2,500 kg from 3,000 kg) as well as redesigned fins and nose c

Image credits- Brahmos Source- Russia & India Report Author- TASS Work to develop a hypersonic version of the joint Russian-Indian BrahMos missile will begin around the year 2022, and a prototype is likely to be ready in 2024, TASS learned from Praveen Pathak, marketing director of the BrahMos Aerospace company. “This will be a completely different missile, with a flight speed of about Mach 6,” Pathak told TASS at the KADEX-2016 Exhibition. Over the next three to four years, the company is planning to “speed up” the current supersonic version to Mach 4, he said. Pathak said the preliminary design is now being developed. In Russia and India, they are simultaneously considering different options for the shape of the future missile. This stage, according to the BrahMos Aerospace representative, will require “at least five or six years” to complete, and then, roughly in 2022, the development work will begin, and two years hence – the first “iron” sample should app

Brahmos Missile ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Anirvan Shukla) Source- Russia & India Report Author- TASS India and Russia have agreed 'in principle' to export the world's fastest anti-ship cruise missile, BrahMos, to third countries - the UAE, Vietnam, South Africa and Chile, Praveen Pathak, spokesman for BrahMos Aerospace - the developer of the missile, told TASS on Friday. "The several structural changes were made in the defence exports policy and these were yielding results. As far as the BrahMos missile is concerned, talks with countries like UAE, Chile, South Africa and Vietnam are in advanced stages," he said. "Since Russia is the partner country in the BrahMos joint venture with its consent discussions with several other countries, including Philippines, South Korea, Algeria, Greece, Malaysia, Thailand, Egypt, Singapore, Venezuela and Bulgaria have now been taken to the next level," he said. пустым не о

Sukhoi T-50 ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Alex Beltyukov) Source- Russia & India Report / Sputnik A supersonic BrahMos cruise missile may be installed on a Fifth-Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) jointly developed by Russia and India, head of the Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace enterprise, Sudhir Mishra, said Monday. The FGFA has stealth capabilities and is based on the Russian T-50 prototype jet. The FGFA project came about following the signing of a Russian-Indian cooperation agreement on October 18, 2007. "We are presenting BrahMos to many Indian public and private defense companies, from some of them we get a technical job. We presented it also to developers of the FGFA — they asked to adjust the size of the missile, so it can be placed on board the aircraft. Such work is ongoing," Mishra told RIA Novosti during the exhibition Defexpo India 2016. He also said that four nations are negotiating the purchase of the supersonic BrahMos cruise

Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Anurag Source- The National Interest Author- Akhilesh Pillalamarri Indian fighter jets will soon be equipped with the world’s fastest cruise missile. According to Indian news outlets, New Delhi India recently developed a modification for its Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter airplane that will allow it to carry the Indo-Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. Earlier this year, it was reported that India’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC) had begun receiving 42 Su-30MKI air dominance fighters modified to carry air-launched BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. The BrahMos missile will be tested from the modified Sukhoi Su-30 MKI plane this year. According to Sudhir K. Mishra, CEO and managing director of the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL), “It will take about four to five months to complete the instrument flight test, the dummy test and the actual flight.” The Sukhoi Su-30 MKI is a twin-seater,

SU-30MKI ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons ? Author- United States Air Force by 1'st Lt George Tobias) Source- The National Interest Author- Zachary Keck India’s nuclear command has begun receiving fighter jets armed with the country’s most advanced, supersonic cruise missile. According to media reports, India’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC) has begun receiving 42 Su-30MKI air dominance fighters modified to carry air-launched BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. This will significantly enhance the striking power of the air leg of India’s nuclear triad. “Individually, the Su-30 and BrahMos are powerful weapons,” Russia and India Report noted. “But when the world’s most capable fourth generation fighter is armed with a uniquely destructive cruise missile, together they are a dramatic force multiplier.” The Sukhoi Su-30 MKI is a twin-seater, highly maneuverable, fourth-generation multirole combat fighter aircraft built by Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau and lic

IAF SU-30MKI ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- Grubb)  Source- Russia & India Report India has signalled its intent to strike enemy targets with devastating force early on in a conflict. In September 2010 India’s newly constituted tri-services Strategic Forces Command (SFC) submitted a proposal to the Defence Ministry for setting up two dedicated squadrons of aircraft comprising 40 Su-30MKI air dominance fighters. The task of this “mini air force” is to deliver nuclear weapons. The picture became clearer in October 2012 when the Cabinet Committee on Security green lighted a programme to carry out structural and software modifications on 42 Su-30MKIs and acquire 216 air-launched BrahMos missiles. Until then, the BrahMos – the product of an India-Russia joint venture – was for exclusive use by the Navy. In March 2015 the SFC received the first of these 42 Sukhois equipped with the air launched version of the supersonic BrahMos. This is the first time t

Brahmos cruise missile ( Image credits- Wikimedia commons/ Hemant Rawat ) BALASORE (ODISHA): India today succcessfully test-fired an advanced version of the 290-km range Brahmos supersonic cruise missile off the coast of Odisha, giving the country the capability to hit enemy targets hidden behind mountains or in a cluster of buildings with "pinpoint accuracy". The missile travelled its full strike range of 290 kms in about 500 seconds to hit its simulated target in a copybook fashion after being fired from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea............... Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/38002394.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Brahmos- Block III ( Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons and The Press Information Bureau, Govt of India) Monday's test by the Indian Army (IA) of a deep penetration version of the Brahmos symbolizes the emergence of a new era in standoff strike capability for the Indian military as it readies itself for any potential two-front war with Pakistan and China. As precision guided munitions (PGM) have become more accurate, militaries across the world have looked to move key assets and storage facilities underground in order to fortify them from standoff strikes. Defeating such hard and deeply buried targets (HDBTs) requires terminal manoeuvring capabilities and warhead versatility that the Brahmos program has now demonstrated operationally. But the Brahmos is one of a whole new generation of highly accurate missile systems being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) that can serve to give the Indian military an advantage if procured in numbers not just