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Success Mantras of BrahMos: The Path Unexplored
A book on the journey of the BrahMos team as they tackle obstacles to achieve their goal to create a formidable defence for India
- GenresNonfiction
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 16, 2020
This book is an insight into the BrahMos program specifically and the technology/defence industry in general.
Written by Sivathanu Pillai, the book narrates the struggles of a growing India and the gap between it's needs and what it had. Given the political climate of the day, India was decades behind the superpowers when it came to defence and with it's modest budget coupled with lack of know-how/why, the brahmos team had to deal with strong odds right from the inception. Setting up a whole new JV, one of it's kind and then working with such constraints requires extreme dedication and faith.
One thing that specifically came to my attention is how lack of money leads to innovation and creativity. (Something that was evident in MOM as well) Due to their limited budget and allies, the team had to build their own equipment which, in the long term, made India self reliant.
I don't usually read non fiction, but this was a fun read. There is a lot of technical terms in the book but the author has put in efforts to simplify things for the common reader.
Written by Sivathanu Pillai, the book narrates the struggles of a growing India and the gap between it's needs and what it had. Given the political climate of the day, India was decades behind the superpowers when it came to defence and with it's modest budget coupled with lack of know-how/why, the brahmos team had to deal with strong odds right from the inception. Setting up a whole new JV, one of it's kind and then working with such constraints requires extreme dedication and faith.
One thing that specifically came to my attention is how lack of money leads to innovation and creativity. (Something that was evident in MOM as well) Due to their limited budget and allies, the team had to build their own equipment which, in the long term, made India self reliant.
I don't usually read non fiction, but this was a fun read. There is a lot of technical terms in the book but the author has put in efforts to simplify things for the common reader.
February 20, 2019
“A leading MNC needs personnel for the following vacancies…………..those interested may walk in.” Read the job advertisement and not many walked in because the name of the company was not mentioned. Those who did and not walked back out finding the interview was being taken place in a shady apartment, found themselves working for a top secret government project BRAHMOS.
With two failed and obsolete missile making attempts by the Indian defence (one of which as should be mentioned, involved a missile unspooling a wire behind itself to be guided to the target!), the country was at a standstill with neither the expertise nor the infrastructure to make a missile. But the brains at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) were about to revolutionise the workings at DRDO and DRDL, making it more flexible and relaxed (An achievement in itself in army institutions). Under the leadership of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India made five missiles, the surface to surface missile called Prithvi, a multirole missile system for the Army, the Navy and the Air Force called Trishul, a surface to air missile called Akash, an advanced third generation anti-tank missile for the Army called Nag and a re-entry test vehicle to develop re-entry technology later named Agni. But the making of these missiles was no easy task. We didn’t have the basic structure to embark upon the project. As, India had not signed a lot of the treaties relating to transfer of certain technologies, she was denied from the other countries the basic technology and knowhow. But as the author puts it, we began by inventing the wheel. For instance, students and scientists got together to make a supercomputer needed for simulation, and ended up making one that was 20 times faster than the one America denied us. Such brilliant minds got to work and revolutionised the Indian weapons’ arena.
But now was the time to make a weapon that would put India not on fifth or sixth spot but number one on the weapon’s chart, a plan to create a missile that had never existed. The decision was not only logical but immensely necessary because buying weapons from other countries is a kind of dependency that might cost a lot during a war, not only because the export quality of the weapons is always less than the one used by the host country, but the supply of the weapon, its spares, and maintenance is solely dependent on the host country which may or may not be an open ally during the war. So India decided to have a superior weapon that no other country possessed in terms of technology and efficacy, which would become our first strike weapon. A supersonic missile was the answer, and this time it was the author of the book A. Sivathanu Pillai who led the program.
A supersonic missile was a dream back when it was conceptualised, imagine hitting the enemy with a missile that reaches even before its sound. The enemy would literally not know what hit him. But putting the idea down on paper was more daunting than imagining it, a supersonic missile required a solid fuel engine as a booster and a liquid ramjet engine for sustaining its flight. Making a liquid ramjet engine would have costed a few more years but India got lucky and had to look just over her shoulder to find one kept hidden in a country, as she underwent a major upheaval. The USSR was disintegrating and so was the research and development, as resources were drifting into separate countries. India on conveying the need for the engine inched closure to a joint venture with Russia who were happy to give away the engine to be used for the missile. But due to the lack of funds in Russia the money part of the deal got stuck and only when the debt India owed to Russia was steered into the project as Russian investment that the deal got finalised. And a joint venture was born by the name, BRAHMOS.
The book beautifully describes the relentless work of the Indian scientists who as a habit worked at odd hours unlike their Russian counter parts, but together they overcame barriers of language, culture and work timings. They made possible a technological collaboration at military level which also turned out to be a successful business venture. Trust and mutual benefit were the factors binding the two countries together through out. Reading the book makes it impossible not to imbibe the essence of it in our life. It is a crisp and engaging narration of what dedication and hard work can help us achieve.
www.fizzyrant.com
With two failed and obsolete missile making attempts by the Indian defence (one of which as should be mentioned, involved a missile unspooling a wire behind itself to be guided to the target!), the country was at a standstill with neither the expertise nor the infrastructure to make a missile. But the brains at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) were about to revolutionise the workings at DRDO and DRDL, making it more flexible and relaxed (An achievement in itself in army institutions). Under the leadership of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India made five missiles, the surface to surface missile called Prithvi, a multirole missile system for the Army, the Navy and the Air Force called Trishul, a surface to air missile called Akash, an advanced third generation anti-tank missile for the Army called Nag and a re-entry test vehicle to develop re-entry technology later named Agni. But the making of these missiles was no easy task. We didn’t have the basic structure to embark upon the project. As, India had not signed a lot of the treaties relating to transfer of certain technologies, she was denied from the other countries the basic technology and knowhow. But as the author puts it, we began by inventing the wheel. For instance, students and scientists got together to make a supercomputer needed for simulation, and ended up making one that was 20 times faster than the one America denied us. Such brilliant minds got to work and revolutionised the Indian weapons’ arena.
But now was the time to make a weapon that would put India not on fifth or sixth spot but number one on the weapon’s chart, a plan to create a missile that had never existed. The decision was not only logical but immensely necessary because buying weapons from other countries is a kind of dependency that might cost a lot during a war, not only because the export quality of the weapons is always less than the one used by the host country, but the supply of the weapon, its spares, and maintenance is solely dependent on the host country which may or may not be an open ally during the war. So India decided to have a superior weapon that no other country possessed in terms of technology and efficacy, which would become our first strike weapon. A supersonic missile was the answer, and this time it was the author of the book A. Sivathanu Pillai who led the program.
A supersonic missile was a dream back when it was conceptualised, imagine hitting the enemy with a missile that reaches even before its sound. The enemy would literally not know what hit him. But putting the idea down on paper was more daunting than imagining it, a supersonic missile required a solid fuel engine as a booster and a liquid ramjet engine for sustaining its flight. Making a liquid ramjet engine would have costed a few more years but India got lucky and had to look just over her shoulder to find one kept hidden in a country, as she underwent a major upheaval. The USSR was disintegrating and so was the research and development, as resources were drifting into separate countries. India on conveying the need for the engine inched closure to a joint venture with Russia who were happy to give away the engine to be used for the missile. But due to the lack of funds in Russia the money part of the deal got stuck and only when the debt India owed to Russia was steered into the project as Russian investment that the deal got finalised. And a joint venture was born by the name, BRAHMOS.
The book beautifully describes the relentless work of the Indian scientists who as a habit worked at odd hours unlike their Russian counter parts, but together they overcame barriers of language, culture and work timings. They made possible a technological collaboration at military level which also turned out to be a successful business venture. Trust and mutual benefit were the factors binding the two countries together through out. Reading the book makes it impossible not to imbibe the essence of it in our life. It is a crisp and engaging narration of what dedication and hard work can help us achieve.
www.fizzyrant.com
August 3, 2025
It's a non-fiction book. Written by Sivathanu Pillai. He is a well-known defence technologist and the architect of the World`s best cruise missile BRAHMOS. He has worked with Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Prof. Satish Dhawan and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (reference of Wings of Fire book). He has a number of prestigious awards. Brahmos is the top secret government project & which has made India a world leader in the missile technology. It is an insight into the Brahmos program. It narrates about the struggle, political situations, various technical terms, team efforts, superpowers, DRDL, ISRO, war (use of various shipments, ammunition, missiles (their various stages like the knowledge, research, precautions, development, encouragement, usefulness), etc), leaders (like: Nehru, Gandhi, Modi), countries (political situations), relations of different countries with India, committee set up for brahmos, a joint venture with Russia (provided the Leap-Frog effect in terms of Technologies which resulted in a Win-Win situation for both partners), various problems/hurdles faced by the teams, many trails or testing (lead by कर्नल Anil Mishra) of Brahmos on the island, journey in the ship after completing the mission. Through this book, one understands the stages, patience, encouragement (proud moments), management skills to know & develop these types of missiles. For me, this book is interesting, as you know the process & bit ok, as you are understanding everything (mentioned in the book) with the technical knowledge.
June 25, 2024
A library book which will soon be added to my personal collection. The author embarks on a journey defining the infant stage of Defence R&D of India to successful JV to produce the first technically proven supersonic cruise missile.
Being an engineer focusing on this subject to master, the technical terms the author is referring to are in laymen terms even topics like Electronic warfare, missile trajectory, kinematic impact, guidance system, seeker development.
The author emphasizes the creation of a Military Industrial Complex and the drawbacks of being a import dependent country. He also cast a serious doubt regarding the capabilities of PSUs to master the "know how" & "know why" together. But recent development of HAL Tejas and expertise in developing an aircraft carrier in CSL puts the limelight back to PSUs.
A negative that I felt is a question of mine that is left unanswered : why BrahMos isn't in the Russian arsenal ? Is it an economical point of view ? Or was the JV to Russian was a front to economically motivate its ongoing R&D after the fall of the Soviet Union ?
Being an engineer focusing on this subject to master, the technical terms the author is referring to are in laymen terms even topics like Electronic warfare, missile trajectory, kinematic impact, guidance system, seeker development.
The author emphasizes the creation of a Military Industrial Complex and the drawbacks of being a import dependent country. He also cast a serious doubt regarding the capabilities of PSUs to master the "know how" & "know why" together. But recent development of HAL Tejas and expertise in developing an aircraft carrier in CSL puts the limelight back to PSUs.
A negative that I felt is a question of mine that is left unanswered : why BrahMos isn't in the Russian arsenal ? Is it an economical point of view ? Or was the JV to Russian was a front to economically motivate its ongoing R&D after the fall of the Soviet Union ?
June 7, 2025
Took up this book quite randomly. This was such a boring read. Mind you, I was not expecting some lyrically written text but I was not expecting to feel numb and bored by the end. It simply follows the creation of BrahMos and it's subsequent consequences but my oh my is it mind numbing. It reads like a textbook with boxes of extra information and tidbits. I guess if you're reading because you need the information or you just like such books, sure go ahead. But of you're someone like me who craves a lot and extremely flowy writing style, this was a challenge to get through
April 15, 2018
Gives an insight on the trials and tribulations the scientists go under working on national security & defence assignments to develop indigenous and world class arsenal. An eye opener for tax paying citizens.
April 14, 2020
An amazing book for tech lovers. Must read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews