At Dubai air show, air version of BrahMos missile find takers

As BrahMos debuted at the Dubai Air Show, it received interest from various countries for its yet-to-be-launched air version of BrahMos missiles, which is likely to take its first flight next month, officials said.

“At this show, we have met number of countries and seen interests from Brazil, Indonesia and from Kazakhstan. The interest has primarily been in the air version of the Brahmos missile that is going take first flight next month,” said Praveen Pathak, GM (market promotion and exports) at BrahMos Aerospace, which produces the missiles.
Pathak further said that the company sees a lot of market for missiles in Middle East and Southeast Asia.


HAL and BrahMos Aerospace for the last few years were working on integrating the BrahMos missiles on two Sukhois for flight trials, which is likely to happen next month. Reportedly, about 42 Sukhoi fighters will eventually be armed with BrahMos missiles once tests on air version of these missiles are successful.

Pathak added that the company expects orders from the Russian Navy too, which has Sukhoi in its fleet of aircraft, once the air version is.

BrahMos, a joint venture between Russia’s NPO Mashinostroeyenia and the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India, is a short-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.

BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited was formed to make the world’s fastest cruise missile with a top speed of up to three times the speed of sound. The name BrahMos has come from the names of two rivers - the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia.

The armed forces have already inducted the 290-km range land and warship-based versions of the BrahMos missiles over the last decade. While the navy has installed these in nine ships, three regiments of the Indian Army are using it.

The agreement between India and Russia for development of the advanced BrahMos system allows the use of the missile in both countries’ armed forces and export to other friendly countries.

The governments allowed sale of these missiles to ‘friendly’ countries early this year. Post the permission, there has been talks with various potential customers for the missile.

Reportedly, first request for BrahMos missile had come in 2011 from Vietnam but the government had been sitting for fear of angering China, which sees the weapon as destabilizing. Countries from Latin America and southeast Asia have expressed their interest for the missile system.