Advance Version of BrahMos

• 13 Jan 2022

Why in News

Recently, an extended range sea-to-sea variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was test fired from stealth guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam.

• BrahMos is a joint collaboration between India and Russia.

Key Points

• About Advance Variant:
  
  • The BrahMos missile was initially developed with a range capped at 290 km.
  • The range of the missile was originally capped at 290 km as per obligations of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
  • However, following India’s entry into the MTCR club in June 2016, the range is planned to be extended to 450 km and to 600km at a later stage.
• About BrahMos:
  
  • BrahMos is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India (DRDO) and the NPOM of Russia.
    
    • BrahMos is named on the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva.
  • It is a two-stage (solid propellant engine in the first stage and liquid ramjet in second) missile.
  • It is a multiplatform missile i.e it can be launched from land, air, and sea and multi capability missile with pinpoint accuracy that works in both day and night irrespective of the weather conditions.
  • It operates on the "Fire and Forgets" principle i.e it does not require further guidance after launch.
  • Brahmos is one of the fastest cruise missile currently operationally deployed with speed of Mach 2.8, which is nearly 3 times more than the speed of sound.
• About INS Viskhapatnam:
  
  • It is the first ship of the four state-of-the-art stealth guided missile destroyers, developed under Project-15B. Other Three Ships of Project 15B:
    
    • The second ship of P15B, Mormugao was launched in 2016, and is being readied for harbour trials.
    • The third ship (Imphal) was launched in 2019, and is at an advanced stage of outfitting.
    • The fourth ship (Surat) is under block erection and will be launched within this current financial year (2022) .
  • The Guided missile Destroyers of Project 15B (P 15B) are under construction at Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai.

Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)

• It is an informal and voluntary partnership among 35 countries to prevent the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of carrying greater than 500 kg payload for more than 300 km.
• The members are thus prohibited from supplying such missiles and UAV systems that are controlled by the MTCR to non-members.
• The decisions are taken by consensus of all the members.
• This is a non–treaty association of member countries with certain guidelines about the information sharing, national control laws and export policies for missile systems and a rule-based regulation mechanism to limit the transfer of such critical technologies of these missile systems.
• It was established in April 1987 by G-7 countries – USA, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, and Japan.
• In 1992, the focus of the regime extended to on the proliferation of missiles for the delivery of all types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), i.e., nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
• It is not a legally-binding treaty. Hence, no punitive measures could be taken against non-compliance to the guidelines of the regime.
• India was inducted into the Missile Technology Control Regime in 2016 as the 35^th member.
• India can procure high-end missile technology and run joint programmes for development of unmanned aerial vehicles with other countries. eg. Procurement of theater missile interceptor “Arrow II '' from Israel, military drones like “Avenger” from the USA etc.

Source: TH