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Potent BrahMos will be Navy’s ‘primary weapon’ Bangalore, October 7 The Navy, in continuation of its trials, today successfully test-fired the missile, capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 300 kg. It was test-fired from warship INS Teg - the Navy's latest induction from Russia - off the coast of Goa early this morning. The missile successfully hit the target ship. Two other warships - INS Tarkash and INS Trikand, both Talwar-class frigates like the INS Teg - will also be armed with the missile in vertical launch mode. “The Navy has also got a number of indigenous ships coming up. Project 15 Alpha (INS Chennai) has already been inducted. Now 15 Bravo and 17 Alpha (destroyers with stealth features) are getting ready. The BrahMos missile is going to be the most effective weapon for the Navy”, the official said. The missile has already been inducted into the Army and the Navy. While the induction of the first version of Brahmos missile system in the Navy started from 2005 with INS Rajput, it is now fully operational with two regiments of the Army. The Air Force version of the missile is also said to be ready and work is going on to modify two Russian Sukhoi (Su-30) fighter jets to make the aircraft BrahMos compatible. The official said to enable the Su-30 to carry the heavy BrahMos, the missile carrying points of the aircraft were needed to be relocated for which the airframe would have to undergo change. “It will have to be done structurally”, he said. The IAF made available two Su-30 fighter jets to the HAL for the tests, the official said, adding that the plan was to have one squadron (20 planes) of Sukhois armed with the BrahMos. The missiles would be used to engage stationary targets in the enemy territory, he said. However, the French Raphel fighters, chosen by the IAF to act as a medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), or the indigenous light combat aircraft Tejas (which is yet to be inducted in the
IAF) would not be able to carry the BrahMos because of its weight.
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