“It’s an engineering marvel in the aviation history of India. It proves that when all agencies come together with one mission, there is nothing impossible,” says Raju.
HAL said its Nashik Division took up the challenge of creating all necessary data without any assistance from the Original Equipment Manufacturer – the Irkut Corporation.
“It is not the techno-economics of the project, but HAL’s commitment to self-reliance which made HAL to sign the contract with BrahMos Aerospace in 2014 for modification of two Su30 MKI aircraft for integration of BrahMos missile,” says Raju.
HAL handed over the first modified Sukhoi to the Indian Air Force during Aero India 2015.
Earlier HAL officials had earlier told OneIndia that the integrating the missile was a challenging task for Nasik Division, owing to the limited design data of Su-30 MkI available with them. The home-grown launcher designed and developed by BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Limited was used during today’s mission.
Brahmos with Sukhoi-30 fighters to improve India’s strike options
There will soon be a more practical way of retaliating against a foreign-backed terrorist attack on Indian soil than mobilising our 1.6 million-strong military for a war that might trigger a nuclear conflagration. Instead, New Delhi will soon be able to punish terrorists harbouring across the border with surgical strikes from Brahmos cruise missile, fitted on Sukhoi-30MKI fighters.
The supersonic Brahmos, jointly developed by India and Russia, already equips Indian warships and artillery units. Yet its limited range of 295 kilometres means that targets far across the border are out of reach. That will change once Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Nashik, fits the Brahmos onto the Sukhoi-30MKI fighter, allowing the missile to be carried for over a thousand kilometres and then launched at a target another 295 kilometres away.
Developing an air-launched Brahmos has not been easy, given its weight (2.5 tonnes) and size (8 metres long, 0.7 metres in diameter). HAL propose solutions for integrating missile with aircraft and then modified India’s frontline fighter aircraft for integrating with Brahmos supersonic cruise missile.
A Brahmos air launch is a relatively straightforward affair. Before take-off, the target coordinates are fed into the missile. When the Su-30MKI reaches the designated launch point, probably just short of the border to maximise range, the pilot releases the Brahmos. The missile drops clear of the aircraft before its booster ignites; then, powered by a ramjet, it quickly accelerates to more than twice the speed of sound providing little reaction time to enemy air defence fighters and missiles. Guided by navigation satellites, its inertial navigation system takes it precisely to its target.
Besides punitive strikes on terrorist targets, an air-launched Brahmos would also be the weapon of choice for striking heavily defended targets – such as enemy air bases or headquarters – without risking a manned aircraft. The Su-30MKI would release the Brahmos from a safe distance of 295 kilometres and then head back to base even as the missile heads for the target.
Integrating the Brahmos with the Su-30MKI encountered several technical challenges. IIT Mumbai assisted with studies in “computational fluid dynamics” to ascertain that the giant missile did not create disruptive airflow that would destabilise the fighter or starve its two engines of air.
HAL had already experienced such difficulties whilst upgrading the MiG-21BIS with four new missiles. That fighter’s engine had to be modified with an anti-surge system to avoid shut off. This experience, say HAL designers, came in handy.
Source:- one India
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