Regarding Brahmos’s speed at terminal stage;
First of all this is a ramjet powered missile. It has sustained thrust all through it’s flight envelop. In order for ramjet to function it has to fly at supersonic speeds. Brahmos has a top speed of 2.8-3 Mach at high altitude. But at sea skimming altitudes, I believe the speed drops under 2 Mach. It has around 1.6 Mach speed at terminal stage when sea skimming and manoeuvring. Ramjets although can be started at low speeds they are completely ineffective at subsonic speeds. They do not produce thrust.
@Nilgiri could enlighten us more on this.
I don’t like the design of the missile either. It‘s inlet duct design detracts from sensor effectiveness. But they are developing a scramjet version of this in the form of Brahmos-2 with a speed of above 7-8 Mach. I think they have addressed that shortcoming in that design. A scramjet only becomes operational around a speed of 5 Mach.
First of all this is a ramjet powered missile. It has sustained thrust all through it’s flight envelop. In order for ramjet to function it has to fly at supersonic speeds. Brahmos has a top speed of 2.8-3 Mach at high altitude. But at sea skimming altitudes, I believe the speed drops under 2 Mach. It has around 1.6 Mach speed at terminal stage when sea skimming and manoeuvring. Ramjets although can be started at low speeds they are completely ineffective at subsonic speeds. They do not produce thrust.
@Nilgiri could enlighten us more on this.
I don’t like the design of the missile either. It‘s inlet duct design detracts from sensor effectiveness. But they are developing a scramjet version of this in the form of Brahmos-2 with a speed of above 7-8 Mach. I think they have addressed that shortcoming in that design. A scramjet only becomes operational around a speed of 5 Mach.