Indian missiles BRAHMOS can boost exports of Indian arms TASS 81403171.

The Minister mentioned Vietnam, Mauritius, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Oman, and Afghanistan as actual and potential buyers of the Indian-originated military hardware. India is planning to export bridge laying equipment, missiles, navy combatants, patrol ships, and self-propelled guns to these countries.Previously, New Delhi offered to Hanoi the delivery of Russian-Indian BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and indigenous Varunashtra antisubmarine torpedoes. "

The negotiations with Vietnam are being continued. India’s MoD is believed to have instructed the BrahMos Aerospace company (a joint venture between India and Russia) to increase production to meet potential orders from friendly countries, especially those in the Asia-Pacific region. Several countries have expressed keen interest in acquiring the BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile system", - a representative of India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The bringing of the BRAHMOS air-launched variant in service with the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Su-30MKI multirole fighter jets will increase the export potential of the weapon. "[Potential] foreign customers have revealed their interest in the Su-30MKI fighter and the BRAHMOS, and we put high commercial hopes on it", - the CEO & MD of the BrahMos Aerospace company, Sudhir Kumar Mishra said.

IAF had asked the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) company in early June 2014 to integrate the BRAHMOS-A (Air) with the Su-30MKI fighter and initially assigned two aircraft of the type for the modification program. The first modified Su-30MKI was handed over to the service in February 2015 to prepare for the trials.

BrahMos Aerospace has completed the first captive carriage test of its BRAHMOS-A supersonic cruise missile aboard a modified IAF Sukhoi Su-30MKI multi-role fighter on June 25, 2016. Conducted at the HAL test facility in the state of Maharashtra, the trial marks an important step in the development of the missile ahead of a series of flight and firing tests.

At present, the flight tests of the BRAHMOS-A are being continued; the launches of the missiles against a surface moving target and a ground target are to be finished by early 2017. Therefore, all requirements by IAF for the deliveries of air-launched missiles will be met after the completion of the aforementioned trials. According to HAL’s Chairman & Managing Director, T. Suvarna Raju, about 40 Su-30MKI fighters are to be modified to carry the BRAHMOS-A.

The land-attack and anti-ship variants of BRAHMOS have already been successfully developed and deployed by the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. The successful integration of the air-launched BRAHMOS in the IAF in the near future will immensely boost the air power and make it mightier for taking on the enemy both in the sky and on the ground.

In a bid to support such international sales, Mishra also revealed that BrahMos Aerospace has secured agreements from major submarine designers to supply submarine design and specification data to the company, so that it can integrate the missile into their platforms. "With Indian government approval," he said, "we are ready to integrate the missile into submarines for any potential exports." Several countries expressed interest in BRAHMOS.

The company is progressing with its marketing strategy for exporting BRAHMOS to certain nations. However, the decision to export will be taken only after the approval of the government. Once finalized, BRAHMOS is set to boost India’s military export ambition in near future.

The BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile features advance capabilities compared to existing subsonic cruise missiles. The multi-platform, multi-target cruise missile, carrying a conventional warhead weighing 200 to 300 kg, is capable of flying up to 290 km.The BrahMos Aerospace joint venture (JV) was formed between India and Russia through an intergovernmental agreement signed in 1998.

On March 11, the BRAHMOS-ER (Extended Range) missile with a range of over 400 km was successfully trialed, according to Mishra. "The missile precisely hit the ground target," the official added.The head of the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) S. Christopher told at the Aero India 2017 exhibition that India was developing a missile with a range of 800 km that could be tested within 2.5 years.