Sukhoi Su-30MKI To Launch Brahmos Cruise Missile In April

The airborne version of BrahMos supersonic missile will be flight-tested from a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI frontline fighter next month.

BrahMos chief Sudhir K Mishra who was in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, told The Indian Express that the missile would be flight-tested aboard a Su-30 fighter in April.

The airborne launchers for the missile are being built by BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (BATL), a subsidiary of Indo-Russian JV BrahMos Areospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL), at Chakkai. Static drop tests using a dummy missile are currently underway at BATL.

"The airborne launchers are the ‘interface’ between the aircraft and the missile. The static drop tests are meant to ensure that missile gets released from the fighter smoothly," a top BATL official was quoted as saying by the daily on Tuesday. By Wednesday, BATL would have completed 30 tests on the launcher, the official said.

The airborne version of BrahMos is approximately 500 kg lighter than the original design. For the trials, two Su-30MKI had been selected and the first one was handed over to BAPL by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), entrusted with modifying the aircraft to carry the missiles, in February 2015.