A Russia-India joint venture is entering the final stages of work on a hypersonic missile.
Russians have announced creation of special fuel for hypersonic vehicles and missiles, as well as the creation of an oxygen-free engine for the PAK FA fighter jet.
Maxim Kuzyuk, CEO of the Aviation Equipment Holding (part of the state corporation Rostec), believes that the PAK FA engine can start without oxygen. “When creating the PAK FA, we were set the task of developing an oxygen-free starting system. Plasma ignition systems are installed in the main combustion chamber and the afterburner. This innovation is integrated into the nozzle with the plasma system – inside it, simultaneously with the admission of kerosene, a plasma arc is created,” said Kuzyuk. He underlined that this is a “unique” system, with no analogues anywhere in the word.
An Oxygen free system reduces weight, because there is no need to install special oxygen equipment on the plane itself, thus making unnecessary the deployment of corresponding terrestrial infrastructure.
During the Aero India-2015, Sudhir Mishra, Head of BrahMos Aerospace Ltd, announced that the development of a hypersonic missile would take from eight to ten years. “This will be the first hypersonic missile in the world,” he added.
BrahMos is a joint Russia-India project. Starting in 1998, the BrahMos was based on the Yakhont missile (export version of the P-800 Oniks missile), and has been developing missile weapons for the needs of the Indian Army.
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