Article Posted on : - Sep 15, 2011

BRAHMOS Supersonic Cruise missile. A file photo.

NEW DELHI (BNS): A subsidiary of BrahMos Aerospace, BATL, has been awarded a contract to build five prototype airborne launchers of the BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile, according to a news report.

The BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Limited (BATL) indigenously developed the airborne launcher designed by BrahMos engineers, a report by the Hindu newspaper said.

“The first prototype is undergoing various tests in Hyderabad. Four more prototypes will be fabricated at BATL with tests conducted in a staggered fashion,” the report quoting the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace, A Sivathanu Pillai, said.

The 6-metre-long airborne launcher fabricated using high strength aluminium weighs 350 kg and is the largest in the world.

According to the report, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has begun to make necessary modifications to the Sukhoi undercarriage to take on the launcher from which the missile, with a take-off mass of 2,500 kg, would be gravity-dropped.

Once the structural tests of the launcher are over, its mechanism of release would be tested from a static platform using a dummy missile. The launcher would then be integrated onto the reinforced Sukhoi airframe to repeat the test, it said.

The air version of BRAHMOS missile is expected to be flight tested on a Su-30 MKI aircraft by the end of 2012. Jointly developed by India and Russia, BRAHMOS has a range of 290 km and is already in service with the Indian Army and Navy.