BrahMos working to develop boomerang missile: CEO

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, January 19

Taking inspiration from Lord Vishnu’s Sudarshan Chakra, BrahMos Aerospace is working to develop hypersonic reusable missiles.

Sudhir Kumar Mishra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BrahMos, told The Tribune here today, that going at a speed of more than Mach 10, the boomerang missile would have a capacity to deliver the warhead, assess the destruction of target, come back and get ready to go again. “The late President APJ Abdul Kalam, also known as Missile Man, had dreamt of a high-end missile programme that could be reused, as the Sudarshan Chakra is believed to be. It is a highly challenging project but the technological advancements by Indian scientists in the field of supersonic missiles have the capacity to accomplish it,” he said.

Mishra was in city today to attend the inaugural function “TechSamadhan” at National Institute of Technology (NIT). He said work was already underway for developing another version for cruising BrahMos at Mach 5 speed, as compared to the current Mach 2.8.

Mishra said Mach 5 and beyond was the benchmark to be categorised as hypersonic and BrahMos would achieve it in the next two-three years. “We have the capability to extend the range of the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos beyond the existing 300-km distance. We definitely have a programme to increase the range but its confidentiality is maintained strictly,” he said.

Earlier, Mishra told NIT students about the contribution of APJ Abdul Kalam in India’s missile programmes. Several countries were keen to buy supersonic missiles from India that had no competitor in the world market, he added.