India-Russia BrahMos-2 Missile Project Stalls Over ToT and Doubled Scramjet Engine Price

NEW DELHI - The ambitious BrahMos-2 hypersonic cruise missile program, a joint venture between India's BrahMos Corporation and Russia, is facing significant challenges that could jeopardize its development. Talks between the two nations have reportedly stalled due to technical disagreements and financial concerns.

The BrahMos-2, envisioned as a hypersonic adaptation of Russia's Zircon cruise missile, was initially designed to achieve Mach 8 speed. However, due to export control concerns, the speed was reportedly capped at Mach 6.

A major point of contention revolves around the scramjet engine technology, crucial for propelling the BrahMos-2 to hypersonic speeds. Russia's reluctance to share the Transfer of Technology (ToT) for this critical component has become a significant roadblock in the project's progress.

Furthermore, Russia's demands for a higher price due to the advanced nature of the scramjet engine have raised concerns about the project's financial viability. Reports suggest that the cost per unit for the BrahMos-2 could be double that of the current BrahMos missile.

The BrahMos-2, designed as a manoeuvrable anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile with a range of 500-1000 kilometers, was expected to significantly enhance India's maritime defense capabilities. However, the current impasse raises doubts about the project's timeline and ultimate success.

The future of the BrahMos-2 program now hinges on India and Russia's ability to overcome these technical and financial hurdles. If they cannot reach a mutually agreeable solution, India may need to explore alternative hypersonic technologies to meet its defense requirements.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

India should stop depending on russia for scramjet tech. ISRO already has been working on domestic scramjet. We should complete that. It is OK if it takes a long time. Even USA does not have a functional hypersonic weapon yet. It is not that crucial of a tech.

any target that requires a hypersonic weapon strike can also be taken out by subsonic or supersonic weapons, it is just that it will take more number of missiles to destroy it as chance of interception by air defence is higher.

 

[ramdas]

Russia has been a valuable partner to India, providing the latest technology in areas such as submarines and the BrahMos missile. However, due to a decrease in defense contracts for its weapon platforms, such as the SU 57, Russia is facing tough competition in the MRFA race.

 

[Abhijeet Dey]

India should stop depending on russia for scramjet tech. ISRO already has been working on domestic scramjet. We should complete that. It is OK if it takes a long time. Even USA does not have a functional hypersonic weapon yet. It is not that crucial of a tech.

any target that requires a hypersonic weapon strike can also be taken out by subsonic or supersonic weapons, it is just that it will take more number of missiles to destroy it as chance of interception by air defence is higher.

Then why Brahmos is asking Russia for ToT of Zircon missile in the first place? They should take help from ISRO instead.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

Then why Brahmos is asking Russia for ToT of Zircon missile in the first place? They should take help from ISRO instead.

Because brahmos is joint venture between india and russia. It was specifically formed for the purpose of taking advantage of russian tech.

 

[Anant]

I have been saying for a fair while now that our dependence on Russia is approaching it's end. Russia simply doesn't want to commit to the BrahMos II development effort since they very well know that the missile would be aimed at China and Bhikaristan, and because they aren't particularly happy with India's strategic autonomy either.

Seriously, at thus point, we have a fair bit of institutional know-how when it comes to missile design. There are also reports of that new engine for the BrahMos I which has the potential to increase its speed beyond Mach 4. High time we build on that and lessons from RudraM-III and other missiles and get a hypersonic missile of their own.

 

[Anant]

Russia has been a valuable partner to India, providing the latest technology in areas such as submarines and the BrahMos missile. However, due to a decrease in defense contracts for its weapon platforms, such as the SU 57, Russia is facing tough competition in the MRFA race.

Russia is facing a tough time with MRFA because their offerings are not that good. If they wanted to offer the Su-35 with any chance of victory, we here in India may as well buy more Su-30MKIs with AL-41 engines in the Super Sukhoi configuration. As for the MiG-35, that is just a rebranded MiG-29 with the serial numbers filed off.

 

[ramdas]

Russia is facing a tough time with MRFA because their offerings are not that good. If they wanted to offer the Su-35 with any chance of victory, we here in India may as well buy more Su-30MKIs with AL-41 engines in the Super Sukhoi configuration. As for the MiG-35, that is just a rebranded MiG-29 with the serial numbers filed off.

They want co-development just like SU30. India is not investing anymore in Russian projects. Hence they will extract the pound of flesh from the hypersonic missile. Nothing wrong. I support them

 

[abhinav srivastava]

Not only Bramhos 2 but Astra mk3 is also stalled. Dimilar thing is happening in jet engine tech. For bleeding edge tech we will have to do our own R&D.

 

[Ranjeet Singh]

Indian govt should fund the BrahMos-II project !

 

[Aravind Raveendran]

We should not waste time, either we offer to pay more than we said or we utilise our own brains in ISRO and go independent. We need this tech for fulfilling many of our ambitions.

 

[shivkumar sinha]

A country like Bharat should not expect that a potential competitor like RF or US will transfer technology for their crown jewels like hypersonic missiles or jet engines. Bharat should increase its efforts and investment in R&D to get them indigenously.

 

[MANIVANNAN N]

What about indias scramjet engine testing? Where is heads press release. Amca all will come and talk. But scram jet engine no news on this on past two years.

 

[Anant]

They want co-development just like SU30. India is not investing anymore in Russian projects. Hence they will extract the pound of flesh from the hypersonic missile. Nothing wrong. I support them

We were co-developing the Su-57 and the FGFA, but we pulled out once we realised the Russians were overselling the fighter's capabilities.

They can extract whatever they want to. If it is not beneficial for India, then the Russians can take a walk.

Oh, and it isn't a matter of supporting this side or that side. I agree with Russia's stance on many things, and I disagree on many things. However, India's partnership with Russia should be, from our perspective, be beneficial for India, then beneficial for Russia, and then beneficial for others, in that order.

 

[Kailash]

Scramjet tech, though incredibly complex, is much simpler than that or a turbojet/turbofan tech. For now you need reliability and life of only a few seconds as it is limited to missiles that destroy themselves.

What we need it more hypersonic wind tunnels and testing here. Expecting Russians to give to us, especially when we are moving closer to the USA, is unfair. Begging and borrowing are totally out of question, you could steal it or work your a** here in India to create the IPR.

 

[NSR]

If you think the present sanctions on Russia are strict then wait few more weeks to see and feel the shattering types of sanctions being proposed on Russia.

India must start developing Hypersonic missiles by itself and surely it can do it.

 

[Akshat]

Then why Brahmos is asking Russia for ToT of Zircon missile in the first place? They should take help from ISRO instead.

Brahmos is a company with Russian shareholding. But GoI has so far not shown any interest in their project. So Brahmos as a company needs it because Russia as a country wants to sell it and begging us to buy it. But India as a country has no interest in it.

 

[Akshat]

They want co-development just like SU30. India is not investing anymore in Russian projects. Hence they will extract the pound of flesh from the hypersonic missile. Nothing wrong. I support them

But GoI is not interested in their hypersonic missiles. Russia has been begging us to buy it but GoI refused.

 

[Akshat]

I have been saying for a fair while now that our dependence on Russia is approaching it's end. Russia simply doesn't want to commit to the BrahMos II development effort since they very well know that the missile would be aimed at China and Bhikaristan, and because they aren't particularly happy with India's strategic autonomy either.

Seriously, at thus point, we have a fair bit of institutional know-how when it comes to missile design. There are also reports of that new engine for the BrahMos I which has the potential to increase its speed beyond Mach 4. High time we build on that and lessons from RudraM-III and other missiles and get a hypersonic missile of their own.

Actually it’s the opposite bro.

Brahmos chairman for a long time has been saying that the missile will be ready 4 years after GoI gives its go ahead. That means that permissions from the Russian government are already in place, at least verbally.

But GoI simply hasn’t given the go ahead so far.

This shows that GoI is not ready to buy it while Russia is begging to sell it.

 

[Deepak Hegde]

They want co-development just like SU30. India is not investing anymore in Russian projects. Hence they will extract the pound of flesh from the hypersonic missile. Nothing wrong. I support them

Co-development ? Its a joke. Brahmos is just the vehicle to buy technology from Russia and adapt it using Indian suppliers to lower costs. Right from beginning, India has no contribution. Its Yakhont technology that has been adapted for manufacturing in India. We could not even increase the range till the Russians gace it to us. So, for hypersonic Brahmos, it will be pipedream for India till we actually buy it from Russia under the Brahmos vehicle.