India, Russia mull exporting BrahMos missile to Philippines, other countries
| Date :13-Nov-2020 |
NEW DELHI :
India likely to ink an agreement with the Philippines early next year to supply a batch of BrahMos
INDIA and Russia are planning 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 it can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or from land platforms. People familiar with the talks on export of the missile said that India is likely to ink an agreement with the Philippines early next year to supply a batch of BrahMos to the Southeast Asian country.
In the last few weeks, several tests of the new version of missile were carried out in multiple locations. The range of the new version of the missile has been extended to 400 km from the original 290 km. However, its speed has been maintained at Mach 2.8 which is nearly three times that of sound. “All tests of contemporary versions are successful. They were carried out mainly to increase the range of this exclusive missile. We are exporting it to third countries beginning with the Philippines,” Babushkin said at an online media briefing. It is learnt that India has held preliminary talks with Philippines for the missile supply. A number of countries including in the Gulf region showed interests in procuring the missile. India has already deployed a sizeable number of the original BrahMos missiles and other key assets in several strategic locations along the de-facto border with China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
‘Working hard for early supply of S-400 to India’: RUSSIA on Thursday said that it was working “very hard” to advance the supply of the S-400 surface-to-air missiles to India even though the delivery of the first batch of the weapons system is scheduled by the end of next year. At an online media briefing, Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin also said that both sides are working on a mutual logistics support agreement and close to seal a multi-billion dollar deal under which an Indo-Russian joint venture will produce 200 Kamov Ka-226T attack helicopters for the Indian Armed Forces.
Asked whether the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) signed between India and the US will have security implications in operation of Russian-origin platforms by the Indian Armed Forces, Babushkin did not give a direct reply, but said Moscow’s defence ties with India are immune to any “restrictions and foreign interference”. “We are watching quite closely the relations in strategic areas between India and other nations including the US, of course. But at the same time we are absolutely sure that whatever ties India is developing with other nations, they would not be at the expense of Russia’s interests,” he said.