Article Posted on : - Mar 11, 2012

BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile. A File photo.

COIMBATORE (PTI): The aircraft version of supersonic BRAHMOS missile would be launched by December this year, a top official of the BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture company, has said.

The aircraft modification of Sukhoi-30 to attach the missile is being done in HAL and after proper reduction of weight and electronic interface and other various integration, the missile would be ready for launch by year end, A Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD of the company, told reporters at Ettimadai near the city outskirts.

When asked about production capacity, Pillai said the company is geared to produce any number of missiles for India's defence requirement and after fulfilling domestic needs, it would consider supplying to other countries.

The army had conducted a successful trial of the supersonic cruise missile recently, he said.

The 290-km range BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile was test-fired at the Pokharan range in Jaisalmer on March 4, to operationalise the second regiment of the weapon system in service.

Asked on advanced hypersonic missile, he said research is going on to design and develop the 7 'Mach' speed missile.

Research has already started on propulsion of scram-jet engine and it will reach the final stage by another two years, Pillai said. The company would enter into another agreement of 50.5-49.5 ratio for this version.

When asked on Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, which was given prominence by China, he said it depended on the requirements of the individual country, as was done by India by developing four versions of Agni missile.

The Agni-5, with 5,000 km range, would be launched soon, Pillai said.