Russia's Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle

Indian-Russian venture BrahMos Aerospace, which produces supersonic missiles, is not competing with Russia's Avangard hypersonic missile, BrahMos' Chief General Manager for Export Praveen Pathak told Sputnik Thursday

MOSCOW: Indian-Russian venture BrahMos Aerospace, which produces supersonic missiles, is not competing with Russia's Avangard hypersonic missile, BrahMos' Chief General Manager for Export Praveen Pathak told Sputnik Thursday.

Earlier in the week, BrahMos CEO Sudhir Mishra said that the company had upgraded the range of its supersonic cruise missile from 300 to 500 kilometres (186 to 311 miles).

"We don't see any competition with Russia. There is no other missile which has such specifications as Brahmos ... There are some competition from the companies in China," Pathak said in response to a question on whether the company faces completion with Russian hypersonic missiles on the sidelines of the 9th International Maritime Defence Show currently being held in St. Petersburg.

China has been reportedly developing and testing a hypersonic nuclear-capable missile known as Don Feng-17 (DF-17).

Russian Avangard hypersonic nuclear-capable missile was introduced by Russian president Vladimir Putin on March 1 last year in an address to the Federal Assembly.

According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the Avangard missile can fly at 20 times the speed of sound and it successfully hit its designated target 6,000 kilometres (over 3,700 miles) away during a test launch in December 2018.

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