I don't think this link has been previously posted. In any event, I'm posting it now as a response to Vivek Ahuja's query in the scenarios thread.
http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20121009/176500812.html
(October 9, 2012)
India has uprated its BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles by installing the advanced satellite navigation systems from Russia's Kh-555 and Kh-101 strategic long-range cruise missiles, adding GPS-GLONASS technology to the existing doppler-inertial platform, Izvestia reported on Tuesday quoting sources in the military-industrial complex.
The integration of the navigation systems from Kh-555 will turn BrahMos, a supersonic cruise missile, into a "super-rocket" with almost a sub-strategic capability above its normal tactical range, capable of hitting targets over 180-300 miles (300-500 km), from sea, land and air launchers, and capable of being armed with a nuclear warhead, the source said ....
Analysts say the addition of satellite-based navigation systems will improve the weapon's accuracy.
“Conventional Doppler INS has an inherent drift, so the longer the range of the weapon, the larger the relative error," said Douglas Barrie, air warfare analyst at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. "Introducing satellite navigation improves the missile’s positional accuracy. From an investment stand-point it also makes sense to re-use sub-systems that have already been developed.” Former Royal Navy Weapons Engineering officer Hugh Price agreed. "Satellite navigation means the missile will now be accurate to within a few meters," he said.
The combination of air-launched BrahMos with the Su-30 will give India a long-range strike capability similar to Russia's Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers, said aviation analyst and editor of Vzlet magazine Vladimir Sherbakov.
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Forgive this newbie question, but how is range calculated for a lo-lo-lo profile versus a hi-lo profile? If the BrahMos has a range of 500 km in a hi-lo profile, what would its range be in a lo-lo-lo profile?
Also, I don't even know that a BrahMos has to fly in a lo-lo-lo profile to be survivable ... I'm not an engineer, but this DRDO newsletter (page 8) says this:
http://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/pub/nl/2011/january.pdf
(January 2011)
Block III version of BrahMos was successfully
flight-tested from Launch Complex III, at Integrated
Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, on 02 December 2010,
with advanced guidance and upgraded software,
incorporating high manoeuvres at multiple points and
steep dive from high altitude.
The "anti-aircraft-carrier" version of the BrahMos is based on the Block III (
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 268072.ece) ... It's interesting that the DRDO and the Indian Navy believe that something other than a sea-skimmer is survivable. This "steep dive from high altitude" seems more than a pop-up maneuver.
Again, I'm not an engineer, but a lot seems to be going on with the BrahMos ... I find it difficult to believe that its effectiveness and the effectiveness of the Moskit are roughly on par. Just my two cents. :)