BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture producing and marketing Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles, plans to take up collaborative research activities with educational institutions, including the National Institute of Technology here, for the development of hypersonic version of the missiles.
BrahMos is roping in various academic and industrial institutions across the country for research on suitable robotics, sensitive materials and others required for the hypersonic missiles, its CEO and MD, Dr Sivathanu Pillai, said.
After the development of land, sea and air versions of supersonic missiles, BrahMos is in the process of venturing into development, design and production of hypersonic missiles, which can travel at seven to eight times the speed of sound (7-8 Mach), he said.
It is on the look-out for new materials that could withstand high speed and heavy vibration in the development of hypersonic missiles.
NIT-T, which has courses in disciplines like robotics, material management, metallurgy, is among the institutions being roped in for the collaboration, Dr Pillai, who made a presentation at Pragyan, the annual techno-management festival of the institute, told PTI.
The Institute Director, Dr Srinivasan Sundararajan, said discussions with BrahMos had already been initiated and very shortly a collaborative pact would be finalised.