The Indian Air Force (IAF) will get a modified version of the BrahMos cruise missile added to its arsenal after March 2017, Praveen Pathak, an official representative of BrahMos Aerospace told RIA Novosti, a leading Russian news agency.

Over the past two years, the air version of the BrahMos cruise missile, developed jointly by India and Russia, is being continuously tested in India on the Su-30MKI plane. The naval and land versions of the missile have already been added to the armoury of their respective wings in the Indian Armed Forces.

"Adopting the BrahMos air-based missile will be done after March 2017, when the missile test analysis with the Su-30MKI for marine and terrestrial targets is carried out," Pathak said at an arms exhibition Indo Defence 2016.

Pathak said the two-year cycle of tests, which included building a launch pad for missiles and the Su-30MKI, and bench tests on the ground will be completed in March, with the launch of the Su-30MKI missiles for ground targets. At the same time, Pathak noted that for experts who conducted the tests, it was important to compensate for the vibration shocks that occurred.

"We were able to compensate for the vibration due to the new technologies that have been used by the BrahMos. These technologies are unique in the world", said the BrahMos representative.

In September 2010, India’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC) submitted a proposal to the Defence Ministry for setting up two dedicated squadrons of aircraft comprising 40 Su-30MKI air dominance fighters. In October 2012, the Cabinet Committee on Security gave the permission to make structural and software modifications on 42 Su-30MKIs and acquire 216 air-launched BrahMos missiles.

Using BrahMos will allow the IAF to engage targets from beyond the effective range of enemy weapons and attack enemy objectives protected by air defence.

Source:rbth.com