India's 'BRAHMOS Light' Cruise Missile For LCA Tejas To Be Ready In 2019

A light version of India's sueprsonic BrahMos cruise missile will likely be ready by 2019, a senior defense official said.

The official told Times Now that 'BRAHMOS Light' is "currently in the design stage, though initial consultations have been held". The missile can be fired from the Tejas, the indigenously made Light Combat Aircraft that the Indian Air Force is acquiring.

The new version of the BrahMos will be smaller and with roughly the same range: 300 km, but it will be faster at roughly Mach 3.5. That means that larger combat aircraft like the Su-30MKI would be able to carry three rather than just one of the new weapon during a sortie. Even an aircraft like the MiG-35 might be able to carry more than one weapon at a time potentially.

The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is the product of Russia’s Machine-Building Research and Development Consortium and India’s Defense Research and Development Organization, which set up BrahMos Aerospace joint venture in 1998. The missile’s name comes from the names of two rivers: the Indian Brahmaputra of and the Russian Moscow river. The missile has a range of 290 km and carries a warhead weighing from 200 to 300 kg.