Tungsten Alloy Military Brahmos Supersonic Cruise missile
BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia's NPO Mashinostroeyenia who have together formed the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited.
BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia's NPO Mashinostroeyenia who have together formed the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited.
The acronym BrahMos is perceived as the confluence of the two nations
represented by two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of
Russia. It travels at speeds of Mach 2.5 to 2.8 and is the world's
fastest cruise missile. It is about three-and-a-half times faster than
the U.S.A's subsonic Harpoon cruise missile. A hypersonic version of the
missile is also presently under development (Lab Tested with 5.26 Mach
Speed). Though India had wanted the BrahMos to be based on a mid range
cruise missile, namely P-700 Granit, instead Russia opted for the
shorter range sister of the missile, P-800 Oniks, in order to comply
with MTCR restrictions, to which Russia is a signatory. Its propulsion
is based on the Russian missile, and guidance has been developed by
BrahMos Corp.
The BrahMos has been developed as a joint venture between the Defence
Research and Development Organization (DRDO) of India and the Federal
State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia under
BrahMos Aerospace. The missile is named after two rivers, the
Brahmaputra and the Moskva.
Since late 2004, the missile has undergone several tests from variety
of platforms including a land based test from Pokhran desert, in which
the 'S' maneuver at Mach 2.8 was demonstrated for the Indian Army and a
launch in which the land attack capability from sea was demonstrated.
BrahMos claims to have the capability of attacking surface targets as
low as 10 meters in altitude. It can gain a speed of Mach 2.8, and has a
maximum range of 290 km. The ship-launched and land-based missiles can
carry a 200 kg warhead, whereas the aircraft-launched variant (BrahMos
A) can carry a 300 kg warhead. It has a two-stage propulsion system,
with a solid-propellant rocket for initial acceleration and a
liquid-fueled ramjet responsible for sustained supersonic cruise.
Air-breathing ramjet propulsion is much more fuel-efficient than rocket
propulsion, giving the BrahMos a longer range than a pure rocket-powered
missile would achieve.This is because thea ramjet propulsion does away
with the need to carry the oxidiser thus greatly reducing the weight of
the missile.
The high speed of the BrahMos likely gives it better
target-penetration characteristics than lighter subsonic cruise-missiles
such as the Tomahawk. Being twice as heavy and almost four times faster
than the Tomahawk, the BrahMos has almost 32 times the initial kinetic
energy of a Tomahawk missile (although it pays for this by having only
3/5 the payload and a fraction of the range despite weighing twice as
much, suggesting a different tactical paradigm to achieve the
objective).
Although BrahMos is primarily an anti-ship missile, it can also
engage land based targets. It can be launched either in a vertical or
inclined position and is capable of covering targets over a 360 degree
horizon. The BrahMos missile has an identical configuration for land,
sea, and sub-sea platforms. The air-launched version has a smaller
booster and additional tail fins for added stability during launch. The
BrahMos is currently being configured for aerial deployment with the sukhoi-su-30mki as its carrier.
没有评论:
发表评论