BrahMos In Demand! Chile Eyes Indo-Russian Missile; Big Interest For Ship And Shore-Based Platforms

India’s BrahMos missile for Chile! The armed forces of Chile have reached out to India and expressed their interest in buying the buying the BrahMos missile a joint venture of India-Russia. BrahMos Company is already registered with Chilean Armed Forces, which is mandatory requirement for any company to export system to Chile. However, as per the law of that country for any negotiations, the company has to register itself with all the three services. President Ramnath Kovind is going to visit the country soon and during discussions with his counterpart President Sebastián Piñera, defence cooperation, will be one of the topics of discussions between the two sides.

Sources told Financial Express Online that “There has been lot of interest for ship and shore-based platforms. With its reduced size BrahMos NG (Next Generation) can be accommodated in a number of sea and air platforms.” The South American nation has expressed interest in the coastal, naval as well as air version of the missile. It has expressed interest in mobile autonomous launchers for coastal defence batteries, ship-based weapons complex for submarines and frigates.

The Chilean Air Force had reached out soon after the successful trials of the BrahMos missile aboard the SU-30. Developed at a low budget of $300 million, the missile system has caught the attention of a number of countries in the Latin America including Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Brazil. According to diplomatic sources, besides the missile system, there is a huge opportunity for Indian defence companies to participate in modernisation of the Chilean armed forces. Chiefs of the armed forces from both sides talked about exploiting the potential in shipbuilding, radar systems, submarines and joint training.

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. In an earlier interaction, Anantoly Punchuk, Deputy Director FSMTC, said that the joint Indo-Russian venture was established back in 1998 BrahMos and has been successfully producing and testing missiles.

According to him the venture is a real “precious gem” in the defence cooperation between the two countries. BrahMos missile complexes are supplied to the Indian Army and manufactured in series. The Joint Venture (JV) is also testing new types of missiles, namely airborne-based, underwater deployment, missiles with increase range, hypersonic experimental as well as supersonic all-purpose missile. And this success is equally shared by both India and Russia.

The BrahMos missile, indeed, has a good export capacity. “Under the Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) signed in 1998 the issue of exporting to a third country is decided jointly by Russia and India when there is a request from a specific country and after passing the necessary intergovernmental procedures in both countries,” Punchuk said.

Also, as reported earlier there is a great opportunity for Indian defence companies to participate in the modernisation of Chilean armed forces, especially in the ship building, submarines and joint training.

BrahMos Missile is a short-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between Russia’s NPO Mashinostroeyenia and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India leading to the formation of BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. On the other hand, weighing 1.4-1.6 tonne and length of 6 metre, the BrahMos-NG (next generation) is a breakthrough, meeting requirements of both the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force. The Brahmos NG – will also be integrated with the Su 30 MKI fighter aircraft.

Source: FE

Image Courtesy: IDU