With reference to BrahMos missile, consider the following statements : 1. It has a flight range of up to 290 km. 2. It is capable of attaining a speed of 2·8 Mach. 3. Its cruising altitude could be up to 30 km. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
- (a)1 and 2
- (b)2 only
- (c)1 and 3
- (d)3 only
Correct — A, 1 and 2. Statement 1 is the familiar published figure: 290 km, the range at which BrahMos was originally fielded and the range of the export variant, held there by the limits India accepted before joining the Missile Technology Control Regime. Statement 2 is the speed BrahMos Aerospace has always quoted, about 2.8 Mach, roughly three times the speed of sound and the fastest cruise missile in service — the raised dot in the paper's '2·8 Mach' is simply a decimal point, so read it as two point eight and not as a range from two to eight. Statement 3 is the one that fails. The missile's maximum altitude is about 15 km, not 30 km; at the other end of the profile it comes down to sea-skimming height, as low as three to ten metres, which is what makes it so hard to engage. Only 1 and 2 survive.
- (b)2 only — Drops statement 1, which is sound. 290 km is the standard published range for the version in service when this paper was set, and remains the range of the export missile.
- (c)1 and 3 — Keeps the false altitude claim and throws away the true speed claim. 30 km would put the missile in the stratosphere well above where an air-breathing ramjet cruises.
- (d)3 only — The only statement it accepts is the one that is wrong. Nothing in the published profile supports a 30 km cruising altitude.
BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile developed by BrahMos Aerospace, the joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisation and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya. The name is a portmanteau of two rivers, the Brahmaputra and the Moskva. It flies in two stages: a solid rocket booster gets it up to supersonic speed, after which a liquid-fuelled ramjet takes over for the cruise. Because a ramjet needs a supersonic airflow and dense enough air to work, the missile cruises in the lower atmosphere rather than high above it — which is exactly why the 30 km claim in statement 3 does not fit the physics of the weapon.
Numbers questions like this one are won by holding three anchors: 290 km, 2.8 Mach, and a ceiling of about 15 km. Two of them come up almost every time, and the third is where papers hide the false statement. Anchor the 290 km figure to the export version and to the pre-2016 restriction rather than to the weapon as such, because the position has moved: Indian-service ship and land variants are now credited with ranges of about 800 to 900 km, and the air-launched version with 450 to 500 km. On the export side, the contract with the Philippines was signed on 28 January 2022 for about 375 million dollars, and the first battery was delivered to the Philippine Marine Corps on 19 April 2024 — at the 290 km range. So statement 1 remained correct at the exam and remains correct for the export missile, while a paper written today could fairly print a larger figure for Indian service.
- BrahMos is a joint venture of India's DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya; the name combines the Brahmaputra and the Moskva.
- Speed is about Mach 2.8 to Mach 3; the export range is 290 km.
- Maximum altitude is about 15 km and the minimum is sea-skimming, as low as 3 to 10 metres.
- Propulsion is two-stage — a solid rocket booster followed by a liquid-fuelled ramjet.
- The Philippines became the first export customer, contracting in January 2022 and receiving the first battery on 19 April 2024.
- Reading the printed '2·8 Mach' as a range from 2 to 8 rather than as the decimal 2.8.
- Treating 290 km as the ceiling for every BrahMos variant; it is the export and original figure, and Indian-service ranges are now far higher.
- Confusing maximum altitude, about 15 km, with the sea-skimming terminal altitude of a few metres.
Almost always as a three-statement item mixing range, speed and one other parameter, with the false statement hidden in altitude, warhead weight or launch platform.
Consider the following statements : 1. Ballistic missiles are jet-propelled at subsonic speeds throughout their flights, while cruise missiles are rocket-powered only in the initial phase of flight. 2. Agni-V is a medium-range supersonic cruise missile, while BrahMos is a solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(d) Neither 1 nor 2
The same weapon, tested the other way round. UPSC swapped the definitions of the two missile families and swapped Agni-V with BrahMos; knowing that BrahMos is a ramjet-powered supersonic cruise missile kills both statements at once.
In a first, India is to export BrahMos missile to
- (a) Bhutan
- (b) Philippines
- (c) Maldives
- (d) Nepal
Answer(b) Philippines
The export story behind the 290 km figure, asked in the NDA paper of the same year. The Philippine contract of January 2022 is for the export variant, and its range is precisely the number statement 1 gives here.
- practice — not a real PYQ
BrahMos derives its name from which pair of rivers?
- (a)Brahmani and Moskva
- (b)Brahmaputra and Moskva
- (c)Brahmaputra and Volga
- (d)Brahmani and Volga
Answer(b) Brahmaputra and Moskva — one river from each partner country in the DRDO–NPO Mashinostroyeniya joint venture.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The second stage of the BrahMos missile is powered by which one of the following?
- (a)A solid rocket motor
- (b)A turbofan engine
- (c)A liquid-fuelled ramjet
- (d)An electric ducted fan
Answer(c) A liquid-fuelled ramjet — a solid rocket booster forms the first stage and accelerates the missile to supersonic speed before the ramjet takes over.