The Indian Army, Navy and Air Force have all come together and agreed to fund and purchase the next generation of BrahMos missiles which will be smaller, lighter and travel at hyperonic speeds.
The United States of America (X51), Rusia (GLL-AP-02) and China (WU14) have all made attempts in unmanned scramjet demonstration flights which will lead to their hypersonic flights in future. India aims to be the first country in the world to develop a hyperonic missile.
Currently there are 14 research facilities in India that are aiding the development of the misiles hyperonic mision.
BrahMos-NG (Next Generation) ::
Both India & Russia are keen to develop mini, next generation BrahMos which is being termed as BrahMos-NG.
The BrahMos-NG will be weighing around 1.5 tonnes and will have a range of 290-km. It will be able to carry the same 300-kg explosive warhead and will travel at 3 times the speed of sound. The BrahMos-NG will be a smaller, more nimble, 6 meters in length and 50 centimeters in diameter.
The BrahMos-NG will be available as a land-based variant for the Indian Army, ship-borne & submarine tube-launched for the Indian Navy and also an air variant for the Indian Air Force. Suitable fighters that will be able to carry the missile under their wings are the Mig-29 (2 BrahMos-NG missiles), Su-30 MKI (3 BrahMos-NG missiles) and the FGFA (3 BrahMos-NG missiles).
The BrahMos-Next Generation missile project will eventually replace the existing inventory of BrahMos missiles in a decade or so. The first NG variant is expected to take flight in the year 2017-18. The smaller size of the missile and lighter weight will make the missile the best in the world for atleast a decade after mass-scale production begins. The missile will be harder to detect and almost imposible to be hit by air-defense missiles because of its Mach 3 Speed
