After the successful launch of the supersonic Brahmos cruise missile from the Sukhoi-30, ensuring a tactical advantage for the armed forces, work on ‘BRAHMOS Light,’ a lighter version of the missile that can be fired from the Tejas, the indigenously made Light Combat Aircraft that the Indian Air Force is acquiring, has begun.
The new version of the Brahmos will have a smaller engine. The warhead will be about the same but the weight of the missile will be considerably less. The lighter missile’s range will be about the same: 300 km.
A senior defence official said it is “currently in the design stage, though initial consultations have been held.” The missile is likely to be ready by 2019.
LCA Tejas was inducted into No. 45 Squadron of Indian Air Force (IAF) on 01 Jul 2016, also called the “Flying Daggers”
Tejas will get its second home with No.18 Squadron also known as the “Flying Bullets”.No.18 Squadron had been the outfit of IAF’s only Param Vir Chakra recipient, Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon.