NEW DELHI: In what will be a major boost for its precision strike capabilities, India plans to begin inducing the new 800-km extended range BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles in a little over two years, while over 200km Astra air-to-air missiles are also slated for production in 2026-27.Tests are underway for the 800-km BrahMos, with a modified ramjet engine and other upgrades, to ensure the conventional (non-nuclear) missile is fully ready by end-2027, top defense sources told TOI.The existing 450-km range BrahMos missiles, which fly at almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8, were launched from Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets for the targeted strikes deep into Pakistan under Operation Sindoor in May. “The 800-km BrahMos is more or less developed in terms of the modifications to its ramjet engine. A few more tests are required to test the efficacy of its combination of internal INS (inertial navigation system) and external global navigation satellite systems to ensure high accuracy, resilience and resistance to jamming,” a source said.Navy, for instance, can then begin upgrading the existing 450-km BrahMos missiles on its frontline warships to the 800-km variant, with just some tweaking of the software, the ‘graphical user interface’ of the fire control system and the like. “With the basic missile and launcher remaining the same, Navy and Army will first begin inducing the 800-km missile. The air-launched version will take slightly longer,” the source said.Parallelly, DRDO is increasing the beyond visual range (BVR) of Astra Mark-2 missiles to over 200km from the earlier 160km, while IAF is inducing over 280 Astra Mark-1 missiles with 100km range.“Along with trajectory shaping, the propulsion system is being upgraded to generate more thrust and burn for a longer time. If the trials are successful, Astra Mark-2 production can begin in six months. Otherwise, it will take a longer,” another source said.The IAF has already finalized the plan to induct an initial 700 Astra Mark-2 missiles for its Sukhoi-30MKI and Tejas jets. There is also an Astra Mark-3 on the way, with solid-fuel ducted ramjet (SFDR) propulsion to increase the range to 350kmm but it will take three years to become operational. The all-weather day and night capable Astra series of missiles are crucial because they will eventually replace the expensive Russian, French and Israeli BVR air-to-air missiles (BVRAAMs) that are imported to arm IAF fighters.During its strikes on the nine terror hubs on May 7, IAF was initially caught off-guard by Pakistan’s use of Chinese-origin jets like J-10s armed with PL-15 BVRAAMs with ranges over 200km, as was reported by TOI earlier.The BrahMos air-to-ground missiles launched from stand-off distances were, however, an unqualified success. The total value of the deals inked with Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace has crossed Rs 58,000 crore over the years, with the missiles becoming the prime conventional precision strike weapons for IAF, Navy and Army.In March last year, for instance, defense ministry had inked the largest-ever Rs 19,519 crore deal for procurement of over 220 BrahMos missiles for Navy. Around 20 warships, including the latest destroyers and frigates, are already armed with the vertical-launched BrahMos missiles.After Sindoor, the Rajnath Singh-led defense acquisitions council in Aug had also given the preliminary nod for IAF to get another 110 air-launched BrahMos missiles for around Rs 10,800 crore.The land variant of the 800-km BrahMos missiles will also eventually be part of the proposed Integrated Rocket Force (IRF), along with the Pralay ballistic missiles (400-km range) and long-range land-attack. cruise missiles (derivatives of the original Nirbhay missiles with 1,000-km range), among others.
