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Economic Times

Birth of BrahMos: How the Gulf War ignited Dr A S Pillai's vision for one of India's deadliest missile

Inspired by the Gulf War, A Sivathanu Pillai envisioned a supersonic cruise missile for India, consulting with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and seeking Russian collaboration. This led to a partnership with NPO Mashinostroyenia, resulting in the BrahMos, a two-stage missile capable of Mach 3 speeds, symbolizing Indo-Russian cooperation and advanced defense capabilities. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Dr A Sivathanu Pillai , often regarded as the brain behind the BrahMos missile , recently shared how the Gulf War in the 1990s sparked the idea of developing a supersonic cruise missile in India, that can reach 300 km within minutes and cause damage to the runways."So I went to Harvard in 1991. That was the time when that Gulf War was taking place. So my attention turned towards the Gulf War. And finally I found out the Tomahawk played a very crucial role there. So to destroy the assets of the enemy, to disable them, you need a cruise missile," Pillai said in an exclusive interview with CNN News 18."So then I spoke to Dr. Kalam from there, saying that we need a cruise missile. So then he said, after you complete your course, let us discuss. So we did that. Then he suggested this, you have already you are working with the Russians. Why don't you ask them? They may have the basic technology and help you. So I went to Russia, talked to them," added Pillai."So the director general, Dr. G. A. Yefremov said this, we are the only people in the whole world to have a supersonic engine. If you use that engine, your missile is a cruise missile will become a supersonic cruise missile. So I was just attracted by that," said added that Dr Dr. G. A. Yefremov showed the engine and discussed the details. "And we found that a number of tests have been done and it is fully ready. And when we wanted to take the technology for engine to India and then do it like what we have done in space, you know, we have taken the technology of the engine and then we improved it and we did all these things," added Pilai."So then there is no point in taking one piece. So then we said that we will work together. So we formed a joint team with Mr. Venugopalan, a propulsion expert from DRDL," said BrahMos missile is a two-stage weapon developed jointly by India's DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia. Its name is a blend of two rivers — India's Brahmaputra and Russia's Moskva — symbolising the Indo-Russian missile launches with a solid-fuel booster which detaches after take-off. A liquid-fuelled ramjet engine then propels it at speeds approaching Mach 3. It can cruise at altitudes of up to 15 km and strike as low as 10 metres above the ground. It is designed to follow a "fire and forget" principle — once launched, no further guidance is missile's low radar signature and high kinetic energy make it especially difficult to intercept.