Aero India 2011 News

Bangalore: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief VK Saraswat said on Friday all sub-systems of the country’s first indigenous subsonic medium-range cruise missile Nirbhay (fearless) were almost in place and it would be ready by early next year.
Speaking at Aero India-2011, he said: “Integration of the engine is under way.”
The missile with a range of 1,000 km can take to the skies from multiple launchers and will arm all the three services. Nirbhay is expected to supplement the 300-km-range supersonic BrahMos.
Saraswat said an advanced version of BrahMos would be ready by 2012. The technology of the hypersonic missile call-ed BrahMos Mark-2 or BrahMos-2 was successfully lab-tested in May 2008 at a speed of 6.5 mach. The hypersonic demonstrator vehicle will attain a level flight for a ground-to-ground test at a height of 30 km before it hits the target with a speed between seven and eight mach. The mach-8 Brahmos-2, an advanced version of the present air-launched missile, will be the country’s first hypersonic cruise missile. DRDO and Russian NPO-Mash are working on a sustained flight scramjet, which will be the core element of the Mark-2 version.About a ballistic missile defence shield, Saraswat said the next AAD (advanced air defence) test will take place this month.
12/02/11 Suman Sharma/Daily News & Analysis