By David Oliver
BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India and Russia, showcased the development of what it calls the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile at the Singapore Airshow. Following successful trials of the air-launched version of the medium-range ramjet
The Russian Defense Ministry is interested in purchasing the air-launched BrahMos to arm their Su-30SM fighters and the company sees great opportunities of exporting the missile to other Su-30 operators in the Asia Pacific region including Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
The company is now developing and testing new variants of the missile including an 800-km range BrahMos ER missile to be tested this year, and a land or ship-based version that is capable of approaching at below radar level before climbing steeply to drop vertically onto the target at hypersonic speed.