Brahmos integration with Sukhoi by March

India will integrate the air version of Brahmos supersonic cruise missile with Sukhoi fighters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) by March, an official said Wednesday.

"Integration of Brahmos with Sukhois of the IAF is on and will be completed by March, as two of them are being integrated at our Nashik complex," state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd's (HAL) outgoing chairman R.K. Tyagi told reporters here.

BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russia joint venture, developed and test-fired the cruise missile July 8, 2014 from the integrated test range at Chandipur in Balasore district of Odisha.

"We have also recently conducted the critical ground vibration test (GVT) on a Sukhoi to modify it for carrying the missile under its fuselage for combat role," Tyagi said.

The missile, named after the Brahmaputra river in India and Moscow river in Russia, has a top speed of Mach 2.8, with a range of 290 km and can carry a 300 kg conventional warhead.

"The vibration tests were conducted in nine configurations to assess the dynamic behaviour of the modified Sukhoi platform," Tyagi said.

The missile can be launched from submarines, ships and aircraft. Its sea and ground versions were tested and deployed in service with the Indian Army and Indian Navy.

According to test range director M.V.K.V. Prasad, Brahmos is three times faster than the Tomahawk cruise missile of the US.

Defence behemoth HAL manufactures the fourth generation Sukhois (SU-30 MKI) under licensed production from Russian aerospace major Rosoboronexport for the IAF's frontline combat fleet.

HAL signed a contract with the Russian firm Dec 24, 2012 for producing an additional 42 Su-30 multirole aircraft, taking the total number to 222, including the 119 it delivered to the air force.

As a two-seater, highly manoeuverable, supersonic aircraft for day and night operations in all-weather conditions, Sukhoi is fitted with two turbojet AL-31FP engines and is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics from Russian, western and indigenous sources.