BANGALORE: Outgoing BrahMos Aerospace CEO Dr A Sivathanu Pillai has captured some of the unknown tales of India’s supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, in his latest book, The Path Unexplored. Claiming the Indo-Russian BrahMos joint venture (JV) as the most-successful defence cooperation in the world, the book says that the sharing of expertise between the two countries in various missile technologies has made the missile the most powerful in the world in its class.
“Lot of blood and sweat has been shed to achieve the present level of success. Our achievements have resulted into an integrated defence company in India, taking care of design, development, production, marketing and product support. Many of our methodologies were daring and never attempted before,” says Pillai in the book. Pillai is being succeeded by senior missile scientist Sudhir K Mishra as the BrahMos CEO on August 1.
Sharing experiences of various flight trials, the book captures the story behind the out-of-the-box-thinking that resulted in the launch of BrahMos from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. “We decided to conduct a flight trial in the Andaman Islands, as it was not possible for us to locate land target in the mainland of India. Everyone said that it would not be possible to get the environmental clearance due to the presence of rare species of flora and fauna in most of the uninhabited islands and those occupied by the tribal natives. But, we convinced the authorities that the missile is so accurate that the target will be positioned in the large sandy area leaving a small portion of rock and few coconut trees. We assured them that even a single coconut tree will not be affected due to the launch,” recalls Pillai in the book.
The Indian Navy’s decision to fire BrahMos from INS Rajput to test various flight profiles and to validate the missile’s targeting capability was a challenge to Team BrahMos. “Navy’s decommissioned ship ‘Ex INS Androth’ was the target this time. The missile pierced the target and we sent a chopper to investigate the target’s status. First the message was that the target was looking normal, post-impact. As the helicopter approached the vessel, the pilot spotted a ‘big hole in the target.’ This is called a Bull’s Eye hit,” Pillai says. A formal presentation of the book is being held at the BrahMos HQ in Delhi tomorrow.
Published by Pentagon Press and priced at `995, The Path Unexplored has a forward from India’s missile man and former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. “Different versions, continuous product improvement and integration of the user at every stage made the weapon system user-friendly. The missile is a live example of excellent leadership, system design, system engineering, system integration and system management. It has made a page in the history of the world,” says Dr Kalam, who played a crucial role in the JV formation between India and Russia.