Saturday, August 21, 2010

DTN News: India, Russia Likely To Export BrahMos Missiles

DTN News: India, Russia Likely To Export BrahMos Missiles
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources including By Anantha Krishnan M. -AviationWeek.com
(NSI News Source Info) BENGALURU, India - August 21, 2010: India and Russia are looking into exporting the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. An intergovernmental agreement (IGA) signed by New Delhi and Moscow stipulates that the missile will be inducted into the armed forces of India and Russia and also will be exported to certain shared allies. Though the export of the missile has been discussed for many years, nothing concrete has happened. It is still too early to know which nations would be identified first, according to one Indian official. “It will be a decision taken after a lot of deliberations,” the official said. “The missile will be exported to friendly countries after taking into account the security needs of both [Indian and Russia],” Indian defense minister A.K. Antony said. “Many countries have shown interest to buy these missiles, but no decision has been taken as to whom the missile can be sold.” Presently, the Brahmos missiles are being produced for the Indian army, navy and air force. Export will start only after meeting the minimum requirements of India. In addition to the IGA, the missile has the approval of the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Military Technical Cooperation for Export. AVIATION WEEK reported in May this year, following a facility visit to the BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram (BATL), that an air version of the missile is currently under development and will be fitted on to the Su-30MKI fighter (Aerospace DAILY, May 27). “The prototype of the missile launcher is ready from our side and we are awaiting a critical system from HAL Nasik to be fitted on to it,” an official said Aug. 11. “The trials would then begin on the Su-30MKI platform.” A hypersonic version of the missile is also in the works and the design aspects are likely to be finalized very soon. The new missile will be ready for testing by 2015, Indian sources said. The export of BrahMos will be a huge boost to India’s military might. “After Dhruv choppers, it will be a great achievement if we can identify a couple of nations to export these missiles [to],” one source said. “It would also put India into a league of countries that exports military wares.”
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

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