Article Posted on : - Feb 08, 2011

The BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile

BANGALORE (PTI): Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace has secured orders from the Armed Forces to deliver supersonic cruise missiles, valued at USD four billion, a top company official said Tuesday.

The orders by Army, Navy and Air Force would be executed in the next five-six years, BrahMos Aerospace Chief Executive and Managing Director A Sivathanu Pillai told PTI.

The order book was projected to swell to USD 10 billion in the next 10-15 years given the demand in India, Russia and "other countries", which he did not name.

BrahMos Aerospace is a USD 300 million joint venture between Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) that holds 50.5 per cent stake and Military Industrial Consortium/MPO Machinostroyenia of Russia the remaining equity.

BRAHMOS cruise missiles with a range of 290 km are already in service in the Army and Navy. "We are now concentrating on the air version of the cruise missile and under-water version.

"So, all the three services are going to have the BrahMos system," Pillai said.

The Sukhoi-30 fitted with the missile, whose weight would be reduced from 3.9 tonnes to 2.5 tonnes, would be flown next year, he said.

Pillai said both India and Russia were augmenting capacity to manufacture the missiles to meet the demand.

Indian industries providing components for the missile programme are expected to almost double their investment in the next two-three years to scale up supplies.

BrahMos was bringing in new industries as suppliers to enhance competition and bring down component prices, he said.

Currently, the engine and seeker were the Russian components in the cruise missile he said, adding "we are going to make them in India."

BrahMos "next target" is to develop hypersonic reusable missiles with Russia, he said.