DRDO's High Energy Materials Research Laboratory unit has developed the booster the missile
PUNE: The premier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) unit High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) in Pune has developed a solid propellant booster of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which was successfully fired for the first time from a Sukhoi — 30MKI fighter jet in the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday morning.
"A BrahMos missile operates in two stages. In the first stage, a solid propellant booster pushes the missile to supersonic speeds and then separates. Thereafter, the second stage kicks in where a liquid fuel ramjet engine takes it to speeds up to Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound)," a senior DRDO scientist said, explaining the significance of the booster.
Senior HEMRL authorities have expressed that the indigenously developed, cost-effective propellant booster will soon be inducted in the missile and will help save a significant amount of money. As of now, India imports the boosters from Russia. HEMRL director K P S Murthy told TOI on Thursday, "We have developed the solid propellant booster, a key component of the BrahMos missile, and we've carried out the requisite tests recently. The results of these tests were positive and have been evaluated by the Russian experts. A final test, which relates to mechanical vibration, will be carried out in December to pave the way for the induction."
The BrahMos missile is developed and manufactured by BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, a joint venture between the DRDO and Russia's Reutov-based rocket and missile developers NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPOM). "After completing the final test, through transfer of technology (ToT), the booster can be manufactured either by an ordnance factory board (OFB) factory or private manufacturers. Currently, India imports the booster from Russia, which is anh expensive affair," a senior DRDO scientist working on the project said.
Russia has been reluctant to share the technology for solid propellants with India, the Times of India reported. Consequently, the DDRO delegated the task of developing an indigenous booster fuel to HEMHRL to avoid scaling-up of costs.
The HEMHRL's other achievements include the development of gun propellants, inhibition technology for propellants, and the development of fuel-air explosives.
A solid propellant is a fuel used in air-borne machines (like aircrafts, missiles). The propellant is ignited and spews out from the side opposite to the direction that the missile/aircraft is travelling, thus giving it the thrust to move forward.
DRDO sources added that, in the past, they had requested their Russian counterparts to transfer the booster technology but in vain. "It was important to develop an indigenous booster to avoid a further rise in cost. The HEMRL lab, which has the expertise in the field, was assigned the task of developing the booster," added another senior DRDO scientist.
HEMRL is a pioneer for research and development on energetic materials for defence applications. Many technologies have been successfully developed since its inception as well as deployed in the production of military arsenals. Over the last five years, the laboratory has developed technologies such as pyro cartridges, amorphous boron powder, reduced sensitivity RDX, among others. A number of developed technologies have been transferred to the private sector.
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