Article Posted on : - Nov 16, 2010

A file photo of BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile

NEW DELHI (BNS): Indian Defence Minister AK Antony has said export of the BRAHMOS missile will be taken up once sufficient numbers have been provided to the three services of the Indian armed forces.

"Once sufficient numbers have been provided to our armed forces, export will be taken up," he told Parliament, Monday, to a query on BRAHMOS missiles.

Orders have been placed by all three services of the armed force for inducting the world's only supersonic cruise missile, he said.

The Indian Army and the Navy have already inducted the missile. The Block-II version with the capability to hit precisely a small target in a cluster of larger targets has made the missile even more lethal.

While the work on integration of air launched BRAHMOS missile with Su-30 MKI is in progress, the mobile land attack version is getting ready to be inducted by the Indian Air Force.

The Indian Russian joint venture BRAHMOS missile is a two-stage vehicle that has a solid propellant booster and a liquid propellant ramjet system. The missile can fly at 2.8 times the speed of sound.

It can carry conventional warheads up to 300 kg for a range of 290 km.

The cruise missile is capable of being launched from multiple platforms based on land, ship, sub-marines and air, and currently the focus in on for the development of its air-launched and the submarine-launched versions.