India's Supersonic Cruise Missile: BrahMos Missile
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has cleared a mega Rs 20,000 crores deal for 200 BrahMos Missiles for the Indian Navy. The deal was cleared in a meeting on February 21, 2024, top defence sources told an Indian media agency. The contract is likely to be signed in the first week of March between BrahMos Aerospace and Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The deal will boost the Indian Navy’s firepower and will enhance its capabilities. The BrahMos Missile are used for anti-ship and attack operations and have been the mainstay weapons of warships. The BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture of India and Russia, built by the DRDO and Mashinostroyeniya agencies in 1998, and produces supersonic cruise missiles that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircrafts and land platforms.
Initially, the ownership was divided equally between the two countries, but India has gradually increased its stake in the company headquartered in New Delhi.
Acknowledged as the foremost and swiftest precision guided weapon on a global scale, BrahMos has played a pivotal role in enhancing India’s deterrence capabilities. The Indian Army has also integrated several BrahMos Systems into its arsenals since 2007. The weapon platform is also said to be exported to Philippines which will be its first global customer.
In an interview with a prominent Indian media agency, the DRDO Chairman Samir V Kamat said that the first set of BrahMos missile systems was expected to reach the Philippines by the end of March 2024. Valued at USD 375 million, it will be DRDO’s largest ever defence contract with a foreign nation.
The Cabinet Committee nod for the BrahMos Missile acquisition comes days after the defence ministry approved a proposal to procure nine maritime surveillance aircraft for the Indian Navy and six maritime patrol aircraft for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). The proposed acquisition involves the construction of fifteen maritime patrol planes which will be based on C-295 transport aircraft that are being manufactured in India in joint venture between TATA Advanced Systems and Airbus.
The estimated value of these projects stands at a whopping Rs 29,000 crores. The transport aircraft would be equipped with required radars and sensors and turned into a maritime patrol plane by the Defence Research and Development Organisations Centre of Airborne Systems (CABS) an Indian media agency reported.
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