Countries Around the World Keen to Buy New Brahmos NG Missile, Venture Head Says

BrahMos Aerospace on Tuesday announced its first export deal with the Philippines worth $375Mln. The Indo-Russian joint venture which produces supersonic cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads hopes to sign $5Bln of export contracts by 2025.

A new Brahmos NG Missile is attracting interest worldwide, but will only be exported to those countries to which India and Russia have given permission, Atul Rane, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the joint venture BrahMos Aerospace told reporters on Tuesday.

"Let me assure you, there are many people who are interested in this missile. But we intend to export this missile only to those countries to which India and Russia have given permission… If we can prove the effectiveness of such a missile in the Indian Air Force, I think half of the world, if not more, will want to have such a weapon," Rane said at the DefExpo 2022 exhibition.

Rane added that they hope to "export from 1,500 to 2,000 such missiles in the first five years".

Earlier, BrahMos Aerospace announced that tests of the new BrahMos NG rocket could begin in 2023-24, and the presentation of the new missile project would soon take place in Moscow at NPO Mashinostroeniya.

The BrahMos NG missile, which weighs almost half as much as the conventional Brahmos rocket, will initially be installed on Su-30MKI fighters. Later in the future, such missiles can be installed on other aircraft in service with the Indian Air Force.

"After we install this missile on the Su-30MKI, we will begin to install it on other aviation platforms, including the Tejas light combat aircraft [an Indian-designed fighter], which is in service with India, as well as to western aircraft. But this will depend on the customer," Rane told Sputnik.

BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India and Russia that makes supersonic cruise missiles that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or ground platforms. The company was founded in 1998 and named after the rivers Brahmaputra and Moscow. The first test launch of the missile took place in 2001. Various versions of Brahmos are in service with all three branches of the Indian Armed Forces: Air Force, Navy and Army.