About BrahMos Missile

• BrahMos is the supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India and NPOM of Russia.
• BrahMos is an amalgamation of the names of the rivers Brahmaputra of India and Moskva of Russia.
• BrahMos is a two-stage missile with solid propellant booster as first stage and liquid ramjet as the second stage.
• Being a cruise missile it can be guided towards a predetermined land- or sea-based target. 
• With a capability to attain speeds 2.8 times that of sound (Mach 2.8), BrahMos is classified as a supersonic cruise missile. 
• It operates on the “Fire and Forget” principle i.e it does not require further guidance after launch.
• BrahMos currently has a range of 290 km, but efforts are also on to extend this to 400 km.
• Various versions of the BrahMos, including those which can be fired from land, warships, submarines and Sukhoi-30 fighter jets have already been developed and successfully tested in the past.

Why in News?

• India has successfully fired the Extended Range Version of BrahMos Air Launched missile from Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft. The launch from the aircraft was as planned and the missile achieved a direct hit on the designated target in the Bay of Bengal region.
• It was the first launch of an Extended Range version of BrahMos missile from Su-30MKI aircraft. With this, the IAF has achieved the capability to carry out precision strikes from Su-30MKI aircraft against a land/ sea target over very long ranges.
• The extended range capability of the missile coupled with the high performance of the Su-30MKI aircraft gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the future battle fields.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1824795