Article Posted on : - Aug 10, 2015

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in interaction with Sudhir Mishra, CEO & MD, BrahMos Aerospace during Kalam's visit to BrahMos Headquarters, New Delhi.

NEW DELHI (BNS): India will pay tribute to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam by naming its first hypersonic cruise missile, BRAHMOS-II after the Missile Man.

BrahMos CEO & MD Sudhir Kumar Mishra told OneIndia on Saturday that the decision has been already taken to name the hypersonic version of the missile after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, whenever it is ready for induction.

The hypersonic BRAHMOS is envisioned to become the fastest cruise missile system in the world by flying at a top speed of 7-8 Mach (seven to eight times the speed of sound). The hypersonic missile will definitely provide an advantage to the Indian armed forces in future warfare.

"As you know the hypersonic version is a futuristic missile and we have already started the work on it. It is still on the drawing board stage. We thought it will be a fitting tribute to Kalam by naming the missile after him. It was his dream that India develop hypersonic missiles," Mishra said.

"The DNA for BrahMos was created by Guru Kalam. It was his idea. The soul of BrahMos is definitely Guru Kalam. We owe him a lot for the success of the missile. He convinced us that BrahMos was a possibility and we followed his vision," Mishra added.

He expressed the hope that by naming the new missile after Kalam, it would inspire many generations to come, as per the news report.

In another interview with Hindustan Times, Sudhir Mishra said, "Kalam is the reason we are standing on the threshold of a new era of hypersonic weapons. That's why BRAHMOS-II is being named after him."

The existing BRAHMOS missile provides India the capability to hit targets 290 km away at nearly three times the speed of sound. It's the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile.

"We have a two-pronged approach to exploit the hypersonic realm - upgrading the existing BRAHMOS engine to achieve Mach 5+ speed in three to five years and simultaneously working on a pure hypersonic engine to breach Mach 7 in five-seven years," Mishra told HT.

BRAHMOS is a joint venture between Russia's NPO Mashinostroeyenia and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) who have together formed the BrahMos Aerospace in 1998.