|  Encouraged
by the successful conduct of the Bramos joint venture program,
India and Russia are considering to expand their cooperation
beyond the BrahMos missile, potentially pursuing a Hypersonic
Cruise Missile (HCM). Meanwhile, BrahMos
continue its flawless test program and is currently being prepared
for initial deployment with the Indian Navy and land forces.
The joint venture is expecting to produce about 1,000 missiles
to satisfy Russian and Indian requirements and expect a potential
sale of up to 2,000 missiles worldwide.
An air-launched version of the missiles is currently being
developed and integrated with Su-30 and Il-38SD maritime patrol
aircraft.
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| The Su-30 MkI will be able to
carry a single BrahMos missile. India is considering another
configuration, carrying three missiles on the Su-30 - one under
the centerline and two under the wings, which will have to be
strengthened to carry the extra load. BrahMos have been test
fired from land based and surface ship launchers and India is
believed to be ready to launch from a submarine by the end of
2007. Sofar the Indian Navy submarines do not have surface attack
capability. However, BrahMos could provide such capability,
as well as the Club missile, offered to India by Russia. India
has already inducted the warship version of the 290-km range
missile and the surface-to-surface version is also ready for
induction in 2007. The Submarine-Launched BrahMos will be deployed
in an eight missile package, configured for Russia's Amur class
submarines. These vessels are likely to compete for second-line
of submarine construction at Mumbai's Mazgaon Docks, parallel
to the French Scorpene line.
Other programs underway are the planned procurement of lightweight
anti-tank missiles for Indian Army Special forces. The Army
requires new man-portable, short range (2.5km) passive 'fire-and-forget'
anti-tank missiles replacing the Milan. The Indian MOD approached
several companies, but only two could meet the full specs –
Raytheon, offering the Javelin and RAFAEL, proposing the Spike
MR. Other exhibitors at Aero-India presented anti-tank and
multi-purpose missiles to address future Indian plans. These
include Lockheed Martin, promoting various types of Hellfire,
and MBDA, highlighting the Milan
ER.
IMI introduced at Aero India 2007 a new warhead designed to
address an Indian Air Force requirement for enhanced lethality,
air-burst weapon. Designed to match the both Russian made 500
kg bomb and Western Mk80 standard weapons, half the
IFB-500 is made of explosives, leaving ample weight for
some 15,000 steel pellets surrounding the explosives. When the
warhead is exploded, the pellets are scattered in a pattern
annihilating any exposed target in a radius of 50 – 75
meters from the point of detonation. The bomb is fitted with
a ground proximity fuse set to explode at a height of 6-8 meters,
maximizing the fragmentation effect. The steel pellets can penetrate
up to 10 mm of steel armor. The weapon was scheduled to conduct
initial tests with Indian Air Force Su-30MKI in February 2007.
Our report will cover the following topics:
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