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This is the second time the 450-km BrahMos missile, which flies almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8, has been tested from the air after upgrade from the original 290-km range. With a combat radius of almost 1,500-km without mid-air refueling, the Sukhoi combines with the 450-km range BrahMos to constitute a deadly weapons package.
“With this, IAF has achieved a significant capability boost to carry out precision strikes from Sukhoi aircraft against land and sea targets over very long ranges,” IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Ashish Moghe said on Thursday.
“The extended range capability of BrahMos coupled with the high performance of the Sukhoi-30MKI gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the future battlefields. The dedicated and synergetic efforts of IAF, NavyDRDO, BAPL and HAL have been instrumental in achieving this feat,” he added.
A 800-km range variant of BrahMos is also undergoing developmental trials at present. The air-breathing BrahMos has emerged as the “prime conventional strike weapon” for the armed forces over the years, with contracts worth over Rs 38,000 crore already inked till now.
The Army’s BrahMos missile batteries, for instance, have been deployed in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh as part of the overall military readiness posture against China along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control.
Ten frontline warships are also armed with BrahMos, while the vertical launch systems have also been installed on another five warships. The IAF, in turn, is now looking to arm another 20-25 Sukhois with the BrahMos after getting the first lot of 40 fighters modified by HAL to carry the missile jointly developed with Russia, as was first reported by TOI.
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