India & Russia to develop BrahMos missile for PAK FA 5th generation fighter jet

The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile will be mounted in submarines’ torpedo launchers and on Russia’s fifth-generation T-50 PAK FA fighter jet, CEO and General Designer of the Machine-Building R&D Consortium Alexander Leonov said on Friday.

The development was reported by Russian news agency TASS.

"We are working on the missile’s light version. It should fit the size of a torpedo tube and be almost 1.5 times smaller by its weight. It will be possible to mount our airborne missile on a wide range [of aircraft]. Of course, we’ll be developing it, first of all, for the fifth-generation plane but, possibly, it will be mounted on the MiG-35 fighter, although we have not carried out such developments," he said.

The two countries are developing a Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), which is an Indian version of the PAK FA. But the FGFA will have more than 40 improvements over the Russian version.

Leonov also said that India and Russia may start delivering BrahMos missiles to third countries, as reported by TASS.

"The delivery to third countries is possible. It was previously restrained as the Indian Army purchased many missiles and, therefore, priority was given to that country as a party to the joint venture. And now we can talk about other countries," he said.

Last year, India and Russia had agreed ‘in principle’ to export BrahMos to the UAE, Vietnam, South Africa and Chile, as reported by TASS.

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 and the Russia’s Moskva river. The missile has a range of 290 km and carries a warhead weighing from 200 to 300 kg.