Second regiment of BrahMos cruise missiles commissioned

HYDERABAD: In a major boost to its firepower, the army today commissioned the second regiment of the 290-km- range supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles with 16 weapon systems.

"I am glad to know that this regiment is being delivered, ahead of schedule. This shows BrahMos's commitment to its customer," Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said at a function to mark the commissioning of the regiment into the Army's Corps of Artillery.

"Industries must go in a big way towards producing the systems as the production requirement is large in order to meet the demand of the Indian Armed Forces," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Director General Artillery Lt Gen Vionod Nayanar said, "We have guns for near range and Smerch Rockets for range of 75 km.

"But beyond 75 km range, BrahMos is the only system which has added tremendous fire power capability to Indian Armed Forces for targets as deep as 300 km."

Observing that the capabilities of Army will increase manifold with the induction of world's only supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos Aerospace Chief A Sivathanu Pillai said, "We have formed a missile industry complex which is tirelessly working for producing BrahMos missiles for meeting the demand of all the three services."

Two more regiments of the BrahMos will be commissioned in near future including the Block III, which will be deployed in the Northeast along the China border.