BrahMos cruise missile for Peru and Chile?.

As already reported on Army Recognition.com, Peru and Chile have shown interest in acquiring the BrahMos cruise missile that India has jointly developed with Russia at a budget of $300 million. Particularly since a successful test fire carried on by a Sukhoi Su-30MKI.

The BrahMos is drawing a stronger interest from Latin American countries since it was successfully test-fired from a Sukhoi Su-30MK1 (Picture source: Army Recognition)

According to diplomatic sources mentioned by The Financial Express, “The Chilean armed forces are interested in buying the missile. Indeed, there have been several queries from the Peruvian government in the last few months and more so since trials of the cruise missile fired from a Sukhoi Su-30MKI were successful. To try and conquer the Latin American market, BrahMos is participating in the FIDAE show taking place in Santiago, Chile, from April 3-8. Lot of interest has been generated in the region after the successful launch of a BrahMos from an Su-30MKI against a sea target, as many countries in the region have opted for the Sukhoi fighter.

Officials said the BrahMos Company is now registered with the government of Chile, which will help in future sales in case negotiations culminate on a positive note. There are interesting opportunities for Indian defense companies to participate in the modernisation of Chilean armed forces. Chiefs of the armed forces from both sides have had meetings on exploiting the potential in shipbuilding, radar systems, submarines and joint training. “Chile has requirement of shore-based weapon complexes which the BrahMos tested in end-2017 with precision hit target on two consecutive days – one without warhead and the other with warhead,” said the official.

Let’s recall that the BrahMos missile derives its name from two rivers – Brahmaputra in India, and Moskva in Russia. The BrahMos missile can be fired from land, ships, submarines and fighter jets. It is claimed to have one of the best test success rates in the world. BrahMos is a two-stage missile which can attain a cruise speed of 2.8 Mach. The missile can carry a conventional warhead of almost 300 kg. On sea, it can be launched both in the vertical and the inclined configurations.

BrahMos Aerospace pays a special attention to the development of the air-launched variant of the missile designated BrahMos-A. The BrahMos-A is an air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) intended for the Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: Flanker-H) fighter jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF). An Su-30MKI of the IAF successfully test-fired the ALCM in November 2017. "The successful maiden test-firing of the BrahMos ALCM from the Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAF's air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges," India's Ministry of Defense (MoD) said in a statement.