India-Russia joint venture BrahMos to ink defence deals of worth $1 billion in 2021

The BrahMos Aerospace Limited, the joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India and Russia’s Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia, plans to sign $1 billion worth of new contracts by the end of this year.

Interacting with the media, Spokesperson of BrahMos Aerospace Limited said,“ We plan to sign a number of contracts soon. Thus, our total order portfolio will amount to $6 billion by the end of this year.”

In terms of orders, 40 percent orders were placed by land forces followed by 30 percent orders by Navy and Air force each. Presently, the worth of BrahMos’ contracts signed in 2021 is more than $5 billion.

Earlier this year, India and the Philippines had inked an agreement for a potential supply of BrahMos missiles. The missile system can be used for coastal defence and ground attack, is expected to boost the Philippine’s military firepower in the face of threats to its maritime territory.

Understanding BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile

A amalgamation of the names of Brahmaputra river and Moskva rivers, BrahMos missiles are designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture company set up by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Mashinostroyenia of Russia.

Multiple versions of the supersonic cruise missile, including those which can be fired from land, warships, submarines and Sukhoi-30 fighter jets have already been developed and successfully tested earlier. The ship-launched version of BrahMos and land-based system are in service of the Indian Navy and the Indian Army since 2005 and 2007 respectively.

Later, the air launched version Brahmos was successfully flight-tested for the first time from the IAF frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal on November 22, 2017.

The BrahMos is a medium-range supersonic missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land-based platforms. It is considered to be the fastest supersonic missile in the world that can achieve a speed 2.8 times the speed of sound.

The land attack version of BrahMos has the capability of cruising at 2.8 Mach speed and with the upgraded capability, the missile can hit targets at a range of up to 400 kilometres with precision. Advanced versions of range above 1,000 kilometres and speed up to 5 Mach are said to be under development.

Established in 1998, BrahMos Aerospace, specializes in producing cruise missiles and supporting equipment, such as launchers and missile guidance systems.