News Analysis India

Tag: Brahmos

  • Pakistan rejects India’s closure report of BrahMos accidental missile firing

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Pakistan has rejected the closure report of the Court of Inquiry (CoI) in the case regarding the accidental firing of Missile. The responsibility for the accident was fixed on three officers of the Indian Air Force on Tuesday and all of them have been terminated from service.

    Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “Pakistan rejects India’s purported closure of the incident of the firing of a supersonic Missile into Pakistani territory on 9 March 2022 and reiterates demand for a joint probe.”

    The incident involved accidental firing of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile which landed deep inside Pakistan. The Air Force in its statement on Tuesday had said, “BrahMos missile was accidentally fired on 09 March 2022. A Court of Inquiry (Col), set up to establish the facts of the case, including fixing responsibility for the incident, found that deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) by three officers led to the accidental firing of the missile.

    “These three officers have primarily been held responsible for the incident. Their services have been terminated by the Central Govt with immediate effect. Termination orders have been served upon the officers on 23 August 22,” added the Air Force.

    The supersonic cruise missile had landed around 120 kilometres in Pakistan’s Mian Channu in Khanewal district. It did not have any explosive thus there was no detonation. Expressing regret for the incident the Indian Government had ordered to probe the matter at a high level. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) in a statement said, “On 9 March 2022, in the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile.”

    Expressing deep regret, the Indian government had expressed relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident. Pakistan had summoned India’s charge d’affaires and had registered a protest for unprovoked violation of its airspace.

    NEW DELHI: Pakistan has rejected the closure report of the Court of Inquiry (CoI) in the case regarding the accidental firing of Missile. The responsibility for the accident was fixed on three officers of the Indian Air Force on Tuesday and all of them have been terminated from service.

    Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “Pakistan rejects India’s purported closure of the incident of the firing of a supersonic Missile into Pakistani territory on 9 March 2022 and reiterates demand for a joint probe.”

    The incident involved accidental firing of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile which landed deep inside Pakistan. The Air Force in its statement on Tuesday had said, “BrahMos missile was accidentally fired on 09 March 2022. A Court of Inquiry (Col), set up to establish the facts of the case, including fixing responsibility for the incident, found that deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) by three officers led to the accidental firing of the missile.

    “These three officers have primarily been held responsible for the incident. Their services have been terminated by the Central Govt with immediate effect. Termination orders have been served upon the officers on 23 August 22,” added the Air Force.

    The supersonic cruise missile had landed around 120 kilometres in Pakistan’s Mian Channu in Khanewal district. It did not have any explosive thus there was no detonation. Expressing regret for the incident the Indian Government had ordered to probe the matter at a high level. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) in a statement said, “On 9 March 2022, in the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile.”

    Expressing deep regret, the Indian government had expressed relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident. Pakistan had summoned India’s charge d’affaires and had registered a protest for unprovoked violation of its airspace.

  • ‘India to have its first hypersonic missile in next six years’: BrahMos CEO

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: India will have the first hypersonic missile in its arsenal in the next six years, informed the BrahMos Aerospace on Monday.

    Atul Rane, CEO and MD, BrahMos Aerospace said, “BrahMos Aerospace is capable of making hypersonic missiles. In five to six years, we will be able to have our first hypersonic missile by BrahMos”.

    Rane was speaking at an event to launch the ‘Silver Jubilee Year’ celebration (1998-2023) to mark the incredible journey of BrahMos military partnership programmes producing cruise missile BrahMos. BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russian joint venture was established in 1998.

    The ‘Silver Jubilee Year’ celebrations would begin on June 12 and would end on February 12, 2023, on ‘BrahMos Raising Day.’ The celebrations will include several key events, meets, and competitions at the national level.

    Towards the process of attaining the hypersonic speed, India successfully tested Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) in September by integrating scramjet engine technology.

    The HSTDV technology will be assisting the country to develop futuristic space assets like long-range missile systems and aerial platforms.

    The HSTDV is capable of powering missiles to attain a speed of around Mach 6 or six times the speed of sound. Only a very few countries like the US, Russia and China have such a capability.

    India not only has armed the three services with the BrahMos Missiles but has also started exporting it. As reported earlier by this newspaper the Philippines Department of National Defence approved a $374.96 million (Rs 2700 cr) contract for the purchase of a shore-based anti-ship missile system from India.

    As per the initial deal The Philippines will get three missile batteries of missile system which has a range of 290 kilometres and a speed of 2.8 Mach (thrice the speed of sound).

    India has been in talks with Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand and few other nations that have shown interest in the system.

    The work is already on to extend the range of BrahMos missiles which can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.

  • India test-fires extended-range version of BrahMos missile

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India on Thursday successfully test-fired an extended-range version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi fighter jet in the Bay of Bengal, in a boost to the country’s strategic strike capability.

    It was the first launch of the extended range version of the BrahMos missile from a Su-30MKI aircraft, the defence ministry said.

    The range of the advanced version of the missile is learnt to have been extended to around 350 km from the original 290 km.

    “The launch from the aircraft was as planned and the missile achieved a direct hit on the designated target in the Bay of Bengal region,” the ministry said in a statement.

    It said the extended-range capability of the missile coupled with the high performance of the Su-30MKI aircraft gives the Indian Air Force a strategic reach and allows it to dominate future battlefields.

    “With this (test-firing), the IAF has achieved the capability to carry out precision strikes from Su-30MKI aircraft against a land/ sea target over very long ranges,” the ministry said.

    Besides the IAF, the Navy, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL) were involved in the test firing.

    “The dedicated and synergetic efforts of the IAF, Indian Navy, DRDO, BAPL and HAL have proven the capability of the nation to achieve this feat,” the ministry said.

    BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, an India-Russian joint venture, produces supersonic cruise missiles that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land platforms.

    BrahMos missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.

    In April too, the Indian Air Force successfully test-fired a BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi fighter jet on the eastern seaboard.

  • Advanced version of BrahMos fired from warship destroys target

    By Express News Service

    BHUBANESWAR: In yet another shot in the arm for Atmanirbhar Bharat, India on Saturday successfully test-fired an advanced version of supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a warship reconfirming the combat readiness of the armed forces.

    The anti-ship missile was launched by the Indian Navy from one of its frontline destroyers striking the target ship at maximum range with pinpoint accuracy at an undisclosed location.

    Defence sources said the missile destroyed the target, a decommissioned ship, with high accuracy after performing extremely complex manoeuvres.

    “The long-range precision strike capability of the advanced version of BrahMos missile was successfully validated. The test demonstrated combat and mission readiness of frontline platforms,” a Navy spokesperson said.

    ALSO READ | India gets first ever export order for BrahMos missiles; Philippines signs USD 374 million contract

    Although the strike range of the missile has been extended from 290 km to 450 km after India’s full membership to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which removed caps on range of cruise missiles, the Navy did not disclose the location of test and range of the missile.

    BrahMos as prime strike missile ensures the warship’s invincibility by engaging naval surface targets at long ranges re-affirming the destroyer as one of the several lethal platforms of the Indian Navy fitted with the world-class weapon system.

    Its multi-platform launch capability can conceivably be used for pinpoint strikes on the economic and strategic assets located deep inside enemy territory. The missile can also target command-and-control centres and other high-value military targets like surface ships or aircraft carriers on the high seas from long stand-off distances.

    The user trial came weeks after it was flight tested from a land-based launcher by the Indian Army. On December 8, the air-launched version of the BrahMos was successfully test-fired from Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft clearing it for production. An advanced variant of BrahMos missile with indigenous sub-systems was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range off Odisha coast in January.

    A joint venture of India-Russia, the supersonic cruise missile can be launched from all platforms – land, aircraft, ships and submarines. The armed forces have already inducted BrahMos that can fly almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8.

  • Philippines gives USD 374 million contract to BrahMos Aerospace to supply missiles

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Philippines has given a USD 374 million contract to BrahMos Aerospace to supply shore-based anti-ship missiles for the country’s navy, military sources said.

    BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russian joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missile ‘BrahMos’ that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms.

    The company had proposed to the Philippines government for supply of shore-based anti-ship missiles for the country’s navy, sources mentioned.

    Its proposal worth USD 374 million was accepted last month by the government, they added.

    India has already deployed a sizable number of the Brahmos missiles and other key assets in several strategic locations along the Line of Actual Control with China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

  • BrahMos missiles likely to be manufactured in Lko node of UP Defence Corridor

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: UP is likely to manufacture the next generation BrahMos missile at the defence corridor as BrahMos Aerospace’s CEO and MD Dr Sudhir Kumar Misra led a delegation to meet UP CM Yogi Adityanath here on Tuesday.

    Mishra also forwarded a letter to UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) CEO and Additional Chief Secretary (home) Awanish Awasthi seeking 200 acre land for the project under the Defence Corridor for making the BrahMos missile.

    BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile is the only unique, precise and state-of-the-art cruise missile designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of DRDO, Government of India and NPOM, Government of Russia.

    The missile is based on the technology of Russia’s P-800 Oniks cruise missile. About 500 engineers and technical people will get direct employment in the BrahMos Production Centre which is likely to be built by investing Rs 300 crores on the land to be allotted for making BrahMos missiles at Lucknow node, saidthe official sources.

    Moreover, around 5,000 people will get indirect employment and 10,000 will get work through the production centre. The work of setting up the BrahMos Production Centre was on the anvil, said the sources.

    The government sources claimed that over 100 BrahMos missiles were planned to be built in the next three years.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the Defence Corridor project in UP during the Investors’ Summit in February, 2018. Further, it was announced that the defence corridor would be developed across the state through six nodal districts including Lucknow, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Agra, and Aligarh.

    According to UPEIDA officials, around 29 companies had already submitted their proposals to the government for setting up factories in the Aligarh node and requested to provide land for the same.Similarly, 11 companies in Lucknow node, six in the Jhansi node, eight in Kanpur node have sought land for setting up their manufacturing units.

    Acting on the proposals received from various companies, UPEDIA has so far allotted 55.4 hectares of land in Aligarh node to 19 global firms. About four acres of land has been allotted to two firms in Kanpur node and 15 acres of land to a company in Jhansi. In Lucknow node, the state government has agreed to allot 200 acres of land for Brahmos Production Centre.

    As per UPEIDA officials, over 65 big companies have requested the UP government to provide land for setting up their manufacturing units under the UP Defence Industrial Corridor. 

  • R-Day parade: Captain Quamrul Zaman, son of Bihar chicken seller leads BrahMoss missile system 

    Express News Service
    PATNA: It was a proud moment for 51-year old Gulame Mustafa Khan, who runs a chicken shop, watching his only one son leading India’s Brahmos missile system unit in the Republic Day parade in New Delhi on Tuesday.

    “ I’m an ‘anguthachhap’(an unschooled person who gives thumb impression for signature) but a proud father. of a young captain in the Indian Army, who has led the squad with the Brahmos missile system in the Republic Day parade showing our nation’s military might,” an elated  Khan said.

    Gulame Mustafa Khan’s 27-year-old son Captain Md. Quamrul Zaman led the Brahmos unit in the parade this time. Speaking from his Talkhapur village in Dumra block of Bihar’s Sitamarhi district, the proud father said, “Dil dia jaan bhi denge ye watan tere liye” (I have given heart now will sacrifice life for you, O my country!)

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    Mustafa runs a chicken shop at Dumra chowk in Bihar’s Sitamarhi but never compromised with education to his only son. “My son wanted to join the army since his childhood and now is serving the country,” said Mustafa.

    Born at Talkhapur in Dumra block, Quamrul Jaman, Captain Quamrul joined the Indian Army in 2012 after graduating in science stream from Sitamarhi’s Goenka College. Mustafa said it was a proud moment for not only him but for entire Bihar as a son of the state had paraded with the Brahmos at Rajpath.

    “If I had more sons, I would have sent every one of them to the Indian Army to serve the country,” Mustafa proudly said. He added that other youths should take inspiration from Quamrul’s passion and patriotism. He remained glued to the TV till the parade got over along with his daughters, wife and other neighbours and distributed jalebis among the people of his village.

    Quamrul’s mother Sufal Khatoon said she was feeling proud of her son than anybody else. “Today my son has let me hold my head high with pride,” she said.

    Quamrul Zaman got promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 2018 and became a captain in 2020 due to his brilliant service record.