OneIndia Special: Hypersonic BrahMos missile named after Dr Abdul Kalam

Bengaluru, Aug 8: India will name its next-generation hypersonic version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile after former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.

BrahMos CEO Sudhir Kumar Mishra told OneIndia on Saturday that the decision has been already taken to name the hypersonic version of the missile after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, whenever it is ready for induction.

"As you know the hypersonic version is a futuristic missile and we have already started the work on it. It is still on the drawing board stage. We thought it will be a fitting tribute to Kalam by naming the missile after him. It was his dream that India develop hypersonic missiles," Mishra said.

Abdul Kalam, the soul of BrahMos

Attributing the success of BrahMos missile to Dr Kalam's vision, Mishra however, said that it would take many years before India could test the hypersonic version.

(Read: OneIndia Exclusive: Hypersonic, next-gen missiles on BrahMos' wishlist: Mishra)

"The DNA for BrahMos was created by Guru Kalam. It was his idea. The soul of BrahMos is definitely Guru Kalam. We owe him a lot for the success of the missile. He convinced us that BrahMos was a possibility and we followed his vision," Mishra said.

He expressed the hope that by naming the news missile after Kalam, it would inspire many generations to come."There are many young scientists working on the project and I am sure they will have a renewed energy to accomplish the task now," said Mishra, who completed one year in office as the CEO recently.

Work begins on supersonic version

As reported by OneIndia during Aero India 2015, aerospace scientists in Bengaluru and Moscow have begun the work on the hypersonic version of BrahMos missile.

Already the United States of America (X51), Russia (GLL-AP-02) and China (WU14) have done unmanned scramjet demonstration flights, leading to possible hypersonic flights in future.

India is hoping to the first nation to develop a hypersonic missile.

To a query on the trials of BrahMos air version from Sukhoi, he said it is expected sometime this year. (Read: Sukhoi to fire 1st BrahMos missile in March: HAL)

"We are undertaking quality tests of various systems," he added.

(The writer is a seasoned aerospace and defence journalist in India. He is the Consultant Editor (Defence) with OneIndia. He was instrumental in launching Dr A P J Abdul Kalam's e-paper Billion Beats as its National Affairs Editor and has been spreading the Missile Man's vision through the Inspired Indian Foundation. He tweets @writetake.)