Brahmos Aerospace was formed as a joint venture between India's DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia, the company was established in India in the year 1998. The word 'BrahMos' is derived from the names of India's Brahmaputra river and Russia's Moskva river.

After bagging a $375mn order last year to supply BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines Marine Corps, Indo-Russian firm BrahMos Aerospace is now in serious talks to sell the missile to nations in South-East Asia and Middle East, the firm's CEO said. Atul Dinkar Rane said that Indonesia was among the South East Asian countries with which deliberations were underway.

Rane was in Chennai to unveil the latest version of the indigenous BrahMos missile Checkout equipment manufactured by Indian private firm Data Patterns. In simple terms, the checkout equipment is a sophisticated machine that can perform in-depth diagnostics on the working of all crucial electrical and electronic sub-systems on-board the missile. Once a missile completes a successful checkout, it is declared operational for use in the frontlines.

"The BrahMos missile is built to last as long as ten years. Annually, the Indian armed forces perform a complete health-check of the BrahMos missile, to ensure it is in perfect condition" he explained. Simply put, similar to how a gadget is connected to a computer, the missile is connected to the checkout equipment and tests are performed on it and detailed reports are obtained.

Queried about the impact of the Ukraine-Russia war on the Indo-Russian BrahMos supply chain, Rane said that the ongoing Geopolitical situation brings in trouble for any supply chain and the pandemic had also done so. However, he added that these were just small speed breakers and roadblocks and that the Brahmos supply chain is robust. "We have a wonderful order book till 2027....With a few new orders coming we have an order book filled till 2031" he added.

With hypersonic missiles being the buzzword, WION asked if BrahMos Aerospace was also working on that front. Rane said that a few nations were working on hypersonic missiles and that the systems are being tested. On the scenario in India, he said that the India's Government-run defence research lab DRDO and their Russian counterparts are working on developing the related technology. "Once the technology is available, BrahMos will be using it to create a hypersonic missile, we are waiting for that technology to be ready" he said.

BrahMos Aerospace is also working on a lighter version of the Brahmos missile, dubbed BrahMos NG (new generation); the missile is undergoing development and could have its maiden test flight by 2024-end, he said.

BrahMos Aerospace was formed as a joint venture between India's DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia, the company was established in India in the year 1998. The word 'BrahMos' is derived from the names of India's Brahmaputra river and Russia's Moskva river. The firm is responsible for designing, developing, producing and marketing the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile that can be fired from terrestrial, aerial and naval platforms. The missile is regarded as among the best in its class and can fly at speeds of Mach 2.8 or 2.8times the speed of sound.