Flight trials of BrahMos missile with increased range to begin soon
Currently, the BrahMos’ range stands at 300 kilometers at maximum
The Indian defence company BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture with Russia, plans to commence flight trials for the BrahMos missile with an increased range, saud the company’s CEO Atul Rane.
Speaking about increasing the missile’s range, he confirmed that anything is possible by Indian missile Scientists, who are second to none in the World.
“We are doing some testing and we should be able to do it very soon, really soon,” Rane said, referring to the flight trials.
Currently, the BrahMos’ stated range stands at 300 kilometers at maximum for export versions. Indian Armed Forces have already deployed BRAHMOS with 450 km range. The next version aims for confirmatory trial of 800km range.
The BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile, developed by the joint Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace company. The basic missile has been jointly developed by Russia’s NPO and India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
The first trial launch took place in 2001. Various versions of this missile have been commissioned to India’s Navy, Air Force and ground forces. BrahMos Aerospace’s headquarters is in New Delhi. The name BrahMos is a combination of names of Brahmaputra River in India and Moskva River in Russia.
The first contract for the export of these missiles was signed with the Philippines. The contract worth $375 million was signed in January this year. Manila will receive three BrahMos batteries within the next three years.
Indonesia, Vietnam and UAE are next perspective customers.
