ON June 12, when the BrahMos cruise missile took off from its launcher at Chandipur-on-Sea, Orissa, and reached a speed of upto Mach 2, it became the first ever supersonic cruise missile that used liquid ram jet technology. "The successful flight is a great leap forward in missile technology," a top scientist of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), who played an important role in developing the missile, told Frontline. The missile, with a range of 280 km, weighed three tonnes and carried a conventional warhead of 200 kg. The BrahMos will not carry nuclear warheads because it is an anti-ship missile that can be launched from ships, submarines, aircraft and land.
The BrahMos missile is a product of an Indo-Russian joint venture known by the same name. Registered in December 1995, the company was set up as a result of an inter-governmental agreement between Russia and India, signed in February 1998, to design, develop, produce and market a supersonic cruise missile jointly. The two institutions that form the backbone of the company are the DRDO and the Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building, Moscow (NPO-M). It decided to develop a supersonic cruise missile since neither the United States nor European countries have one. All cruise missiles in use in the armed forces of the U.S. and European countries are subsonic which means that they achieve speeds less than that of sound.
Russia and India plan to market the missile to Third World countries. BrahMos is called a cruise missile because it cruises horizontally and travels only in the atmosphere. A ballistic missile travels in a parabolic arc: takes off in the atmosphere, flies into space and re-enters the atmosphere to hit the target.
BrahMos is a portmanteau word that stands for the rivers Brahmaputra and Moscow. "The BrahMos packs in itself the fury and the destructive power of the Brahmaputra river," a DRDO scientist said.
Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller, Research and Development, DRDO, is the Chief Executive Officer and managing director of the BrahMos company. He played an important role in conceiving and executing the joint venture programme and in the successful flight of the missile. P. Venugopalan, a propulsion scientist with the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), was the Project Director.
Among those who witnessed the launch at Chandipur-on-Sea were Defence Minister Jaswant Singh; Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis; Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister Dr. V.K. Atre; Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam, Vice Admiral John. C. DeSilva; senior officer of the Navy and the Air Force; and Russian missile scientists.
The successful flight of BrahMos was a great event for three reasons. First, India established its position as an equal partner of a major power in making a missile system that is superior to systems developed earlier. It is for the first time that a joint venture has been forged by India and Russia to make a high-technology product. Secondly, India can directly export the missile to Third World countries. Thirdly, even the U.S. does not have a supersonic cruise missile. Russia has one, called Moskit, but it is bulky, has a short range and works on solid propulsion.
The BrahMos missile is a two-stage vehicle that has a solid propellant booster and a liquid (propellant) ram jet system. While solid and liquid propellants can give a specific impulse of 300 units (energy level of 300 units, namely kg-second/kg), the cryogenic engines (liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen) can generate 450 units. But a solid ram jet system can give 600 units and a liquid ram jet 1,200 units. "So you have very high energy packed in a small mass," a missile scientist said. The system is called ram jet owing to the fact that it collects the air it needs from the atmosphere during the flight, rams it inside and the propellants burn in the combustion chamber.
The BrahMos missile, travelling at 2.8 to three times the speed of sound (Mach 2.8 to 3), is three times faster than a subsonic cruise missile such as the Tomahawk of the U.S. It has nine times the kill power because the kill power is proportional to the square of the velocity.
T.S. SubramanianPRIME MINISTER A.B. Vajpayee's arthritis-affected right knee joint was replaced in a surgical operation at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on June 8. The 70-minute operation was performed by the New York-based orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Chittaranjan Ranawat. It was Ranawat who operated on the Prime Minister's left knee last October (Update, November 10, 2000).
Ranawat said that he had followed the same procedure that was adopted to replace Vajpayee's left knee joint. Vajpayee, who was administered a "regional block" or local anaesthesia, was conscious throughout the surgical procedure. He was not given sedatives. Ranawat said that Vajpayee's right knee was moderately afflicted with arthritis in October but the doctors decided to observe his condition before deciding whether to operate upon it. Surgery was an elective option and Vajpayee opted for it, Ranawat said.
The artificial joints will not affect the Prime Minister's normal movements. But, according to Ranawat, squatting cross-legged on the floor is not advisable. He said that there was practically no treatment for arthritis. The ailment, however, could be slowed down. Excessive body weight is one of the major reasons for this orthopaedic problem.
Vajpayee's knee problem worsened many a time in the past year. His discomfort was noticeable during his official visit to the United States.
According to the rules of government, the seniormost Minister takes charge if the Prime Minister is travelling or is indisposed. Home Minister L.K. Advani was Vajpayee's choice for this role. A make-shift Prime Minister's Office had also been set up at the hospital.
Anupama Katakam
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