Why in news?

In the next few years, the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas, will be able to carry and launch the BrahMosNG  supersonic cruise missile

Highlights

• The BrahMos-NG development is expected to make first fight in two years and will be ready for production in 2-3 years after that.
• The focus of the development as of now is on the air-launched version and can be integrated on Su-30MKI
• The NG will weigh almost half as much as the current air-launched version, making it possible to be mounted on the Tejas in future
• With this, a SU-30MKI will be able to carry up to four BrahMosNG missiles, while the LCA can carry two missiles
• The missile can be launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against surface and sea-based targets and has been long inducted by Indian armed forces

Brahmos NG

• It promises to become one of the most potent weapon system in future
• It is a mini version based on the existing BrahMos, will have same 290 km range and mach 3.5 speed making 50 percent lighter and three metres shorter than its predecessor
• It will have Land, Air, ship-borne and Submarine tube-launched variants.
• The missile will arm the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, Mikoyan MiG-29K, HAL Tejas and future inductions such as the Dassault Rafale, and HAL MWF

The HAL Tejas

• It is an Indian, single engine, delta wing, light multirole fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in collaboration with Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
• It is the smallest and lightest in its class of contemporary supersonic combat aircraft.

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI

• It is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia’s Sukhoi and built under licence by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.