First prototype of Brahmos-NG to be ready by 2024

The first prototype of the Brahmos-NG, a lighter sleeker variant of the Indo-Russian cruise missile, will be fielded in 2024. A top official of the Brahmos Aerospace, the Indo-Russian joint venture company which manufactures the missile, told India Today TV that the missile was currently under development between NPO Mashinostroyeniya and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The NG or next generation will mark a quantum jump in the offensive abilities of the Indian armed forces. The five-metre-long, 50-centimetre-thick, and 1.5 ton Brahmos-NG is half the dimensions of the Brahmos missiles currently in service today with the Indian Air Force (IAF), Army, and the Navy.

The Brahmos-NG’s significant weight and size reductions mean that it can be carried by many more platforms including the conventional submarines and the fighter aircraft.

It will, however, have the same speed, range and lethality of the first generation Brahmos which flies at three times the speed of sound.

The Su-30MKI which carries one Brahmos presently, carries one Brahmos-NG, will be able to carry five Brahmos-NGs. We can put it on the MiG-29 and on the indigenous LCA Tejas, Praveen Pathak, Chief General Manager (Marketing Promotions and Export) Brahmos Aerospace International Maritime at the Defence Show (IMDS), said.

The Indo-Russian Brahmos joint venture was formed in 1998 and is the oldest military joint venture between India and Russia.

Source:- The Week