NEW DELHI, August 1. /TASS/. The joint Russian-Indian company BrahMos Aerospace plans to commence flight trials for the BrahMos missile with an increased range, the company’s CEO Atul Rane told TASS.
Speaking about increasing the missile’s range, he said that "anything is possible."
"We are doing some testing and we should be able to do it very soon, really soon," Rane said, referring to the flight trials.
Currently, the BrahMos’ range stands at 300 kilometers at maximum.
The BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile, developed by the joint Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace company. The missile has been jointly developed by Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya and India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). The first trial launch took place in 2001. Various versions of this missile have been commissioned to India’s Navy, Air Force and ground forces. BrahMos Aerospace’s headquarters is in New Delhi. The name BrahMos is a combination of names of Brahmaputra River in India and Moskva River in Russia.
The first contract for the export of these missiles was signed with the Philippines. The contract worth $375 million was signed in January this year. Manila will receive three BrahMos batteries within the next three years.