Developer explains high demand for Indian-Russian missile
The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia is attracting a wide range of customers, although only countries “friendly” to New Delhi and Moscow will be able purchase it, the CEO of BrahMos Aerospace, Atul Rane, has told RT.
“The BrahMos weapon system has no parallel,” Rane said in an interview published on Monday. “It has massive advantages: speed; time; almost no defense against it.”
Another strength of the hardware is that it is “a universal missile,” the CEO explained. “It’s exactly the same missile which is launched from land, from sea, from sub-sea. And it’s launchable from an air platform also.”
“We’ve been able to put the best of Russia and India together,” Rane added, also expressing his belief that joint enterprises would serve as the future for major weapons projects.
According to Rane, BrahMos is proof of the effectiveness of such cooperation. The Indian-Russian enterprise was established in 1998, with its first missile test flight taking place just three years later.
A significant amount of time was saved because India and Russia shared technologies with each other, rather than having to invent them from scratch, the CEO explained.
The development of BrahMos over the past two decades has seen its strike range increase to more than 250 miles (400km) from approximately 180 miles (290km). The missile travels at Mach 2.8 – almost three times the speed of sound – and is designed to destroy high-value targets such as warships or land-based command centers and bunkers.
“Everyone wants the BrahMos missile system,” Rane insisted, noting that the Philippines would receive its first batch of missiles soon, while a deal with Indonesia is close to being concluded.
According to the CEO, nations in South-East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa have all expressed interest in purchasing the system. “Well, who do we sell to? Well, it has to be sold to countries who are friendly to India and acceptable to the government of Russia also,” he stated.
