Russian-Indian supersonic cruise missile gains new possible buyers

(MENAFN) Three additional countries—Vietnam, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates—are in negotiations to purchase supersonic cruise missiles developed by the Russian-Indian joint venture, BrahMos Aerospace, according to the company’s joint managing director, Aleksandr Maksichev, speaking to TASS on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia and Malaysia have also been mentioned as potential buyers.

The Philippines became the first international customer for BrahMos, receiving its first batch of the missiles in April as part of a $375 million deal signed in 2022.

The BrahMos missile, named after the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers, is the product of collaboration between India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, a rocket design agency in the Moscow region. In service with the Indian military since 2005, the BrahMos missile system can target sea-based and land targets across air, sea, and underwater platforms. Originally designed with a range of 290 kilometers (180 miles), the missile has been upgraded to reach up to 500 kilometers.

With a cruising speed near Mach 3 (approximately 1 km per second), the BrahMos is capable of traveling three times faster than the speed of sound.

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