India’s Tribute to Missile Man: New BrahMos gets Kalam name
India will pay its Missile Man the ultimate tribute — naming its first hypersonic missile, which will travel at a speed of 8,575 kmph, after the late president APJ Abdul Kalam.
A cruise missile capable of taking out hardened targets such as underground bunkers and weapon storage facilities at seven times the speed of sound (Mach 7), BrahMos-II (K) is being developed by the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace. The K in it is for Kalam, the man who fired India’s missile and nuclear programme.“Kalam is the reason we are standing on the threshold of a new era of hypersonic weapons. That’s why BrahMos-II is being named after him,” BrahMos Aerospace CEO Sudhir Mishra told HT.