NEW DELHI: In a first, the Indian Defence manufacturing setup has concluded a deal with the Philippines to supply the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. Sources confirmed on Friday, January 28, 2022.

"The deal for which Philippines Department of National Defence has issued the ‘Notice of Award’ to the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited has been concluded."

The Philippines had approved a $374.96 million (Rs 2700 crores) contract for the purchase of a shore-based anti-ship missile system from India. The notice was signed on 31 December.

As per the initial deal, the Philippines will get three missile batteries of a missile system that has a range of 290 kilometres and a speed of 2.8 Mach (thrice the speed of sound). The deal also encompasses training for operators and the necessary integrated logistics support package, said the sources.

India has been in talks with Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and a few other nations that have shown interest in the system.

The BrahMos missile can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.

India on January 11 had successfully test-fired the extended-range sea-to-sea variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. The missile was test-fired from the Indian Navy’s newly commissioned INS Visakhapatnam on the Western seaboard.

The extended-range version of BrahMos was developed after India's full membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which removed caps on the range of the cruise missile. The plan has been to initially extend the range of attack to 450 km.

India's BrahMos Supersonic Missile

A powerful and main weapon of combat, the BrahMos missile has been deployed on almost all surface platforms of the Indian Navy. The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile can cover a range of 290 km reaching the Mach 2.8 to 3 Mach speed. Meanwhile, the BrahMos- II Hypersonic cruise missile can be deployed to hit the target within a range of 450 – 600 km at Mach 7 velocity. The missile is currently under joint development by the DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia.

Again on January 20, India successfully test-fired the latest version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile off the coast of Odisha in Balasore. The missile was equipped with new technological developments which were successfully proven, as per defence sources. Developed by a joint venture of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia's rocket design bureau NPIOM, the supersonic cruise missile can be launched from a submarine.