The Nagpur district court on Monday handed life imprisonment to former BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd engineer Nishant Agarwal under the Official Secrets Act for spying for Pakistan's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Before Data Patterns developed an indigenous check-out equipment, Brahmos Aerospace was paying a Russian supplier three times what it will now pay the Indian company.
Python-5 missile live firing was conducted to validate target engagement from all aspects as well as beyond visual ranges. In all the live firings, missile hit the aerial target.
More than 100 BrahMos missiles are planned to be built in the next three years.
The joint mission envisages landing a new-generation lunar vehicle weighing 400 kilogrammes on the surface of the moon.
However, the transfer of technology under license could be withheld due to international ban on missile technologies.
BrahMos is unique among cruise missiles due to its 2.8 Mach supersonic speed (all other cruise missiles are sub-sonic at present) and much-longer strike range.
The missile was launched from a mobile autonomous launcher at 11.45 am and it successfully flew in its pre-set trajectory 'fulfilling its mission objectives', the ministry said.
Nishant Agrawal was nabbed in a joint operation by the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squads (ATS) at BrahMos' Wardha Road facility, an ATS official said.
The fleet of 40 Sukhoi jet will undergo structural modifications at the state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for integration of the missile on them.
The army on Saturday successfully test fired the nearly 300-km-range Brahmos supersonic land attack cruise missile in Pokhran.
It was for the first time that the missile, capable of travelling at speeds of up to Mach 3.0, or three times the speed of sound, was tested with indigenously developed 'seeker' technology.
Agrawal was arrested on Monday in a joint operation by the ATS units of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra police at BrahMos' Wardha Road facility for allegedly leaking "technical information" to Pakistan.
The missile hit a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal from the combat jet.
"The equivalent of BrahMos is yet to built. And, in the next 20 years, it cannot be intercepted by an enemy," says A Sivathanu Pillai, scientist, and CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace sharing the vision for the future trajectory of growth for the iconic missile technology developed jointly by India and Russia.
Saeed, has been moved to an unknown location.
Integrating supersonic missile with Sukhoi requires about $50 million; engine modifications, so many works given to Russians.
Integrating supersonic missile with Sukhoi requires about $50 million; engine modifications, so many works given to Russians.
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