India and Russia plan to export the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to the Philippines and several other countries, Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin said on Thursday.
The BrahMos missile is produced by an Indo-Russian joint venture and can be launched from submarines, ships, airplanes, or from land platforms.
People familiar with the missile export talks said India is likely to sign an agreement with the Philippines early next year to supply a batch of BrahMos to the Southeast Asian country.
In recent weeks, various tests of the new version of the missile were carried out at multiple locations. The range of the new version of the missile has been extended to 400 km from the original 290 km.
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However, its speed has remained at Mach 2.8 which is almost three times that of sound.
“All the tests of the contemporary versions are successful. They were carried out primarily to increase the range of this unique missile. We are exporting it to third countries, starting with the Philippines, ”Babushkin told an online press conference.
India is known to have held preliminary rounds of talks with the Philippines for the supply of the missile.
On October 18, a naval version of the BrahMos missile was successfully tested from an indigenously built Indian Navy stealth destroyer in the Arabian Sea.
Days later, the Indian Air Force conducted a test firing of an air-launched version of the BrahMos missile from a Sukhoi fighter jet in the Bay of Bengal.
Several countries, including those in the Gulf region, showed interest in acquiring the missile.
India has already deployed a considerable number of the original BrahMos missiles and other key assets at various strategic locations along the de facto border with China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
The IAF is also integrating the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile into more than 40 Sukhoi fighter jets, aimed at strengthening the force’s overall combat capability.
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