Know about cruise missiles of Indian Armed Forces

New Delhi: Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy. It is a guided missile, the major portion of whose flight path to its target is conducted at approximately constant velocity; that relies on the dynamic reaction of air for lift, and upon propulsion forces to balance drag. Modern cruise missiles can travel at supersonic or high subsonic speeds, are self-navigating, and can fly on a non-ballistic, extremely low altitude trajectory.Let's have a look at India's cruise missiles:1. BrahMos:It is the world's fastest cruise missile in operation. This supersonic missile can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between Republic of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroeyenia.The name BrahMos is a portmanteau formed from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia.2. Nirbhay:The missile will have a range of 750 km. It will weigh about one tonne and will have a length of 6 metres. It will be an all-weather low-cost medium-range cruise missile with stealth and high accuracy.It will carry a ring laser gyroscope for high-accuracy navigation and a radio altimeter for the height determination.It will be capable of being launched from multiple platforms on land, sea and air and shall be inducted into Indian Navy, Army, and Air Force. In particular, Nirbhay will be adapted for the Indo/Russian Su-30MKI.3. P-70 Ametist: The P-70 Ametist was an anti-shipping missile carried by Soviet and Indian Charlie-I submarines, as well as the Soviet Papa class submarine. It was soon succeeded by the P-120 Malakhit.In 1960s the Soviets started work on a new missile that could be fired whilst submerged, and a submarine to carry it. These became the P-120 Malakhit and Charlie class submarine.However, problems with the engines of the P-120 Malakhit forced the Soviets to design a sub-launched missile based on the P-15M Termit as a stopgap measure for the first batch of Charlie submarines. This became the P-20L, later renamed the P-70 Ametist.4. P-270 Moskit:It is a Russian supersonic ramjet powered cruise missile and was designed by the Raduga Design Bureau during the 1970s. The Moskit was originally designed to be ship-launched, but variants have been adapted to be launched from land (modified trucks), underwater (submarines) and air as well as on the Lun-class ekranoplan. The missile can carry conventional and nuclear warheads.5. Popeye (missile):Popeye is the name of a family of air-to-surface missiles developed and in use by Israel, of which several types have been developed for Israeli and export users. A long-range cruise missile variant of the Popeye Turbo has been speculated as being employed in Israel's submarine-based nuclear forces.The United States operates the Popeye under a different designation according to US naming conventions as the AGM-142 Have Nap.