The Philippines is the first country to import India’s BrahMos missile system. Excerpts from a joint interview of Atul Dinkar Rane, CEO & MD and deputy CEO Dr Sanjeev Kumar Joshi, BrahMos Aerospace, the makers of the supersonic cruise missile, known for its speed (almost thrice the speed of sound) and accuracy, with Mayank Singh, in a interview on MSN.com. Excerpts:

BrahMos is inducted into the three wings of the Indian armed forces. How have they received it?

The BrahMos missile has added a new dimension in the realm of application of firepower and is a frontrunner in this class of weapon system. It has fulfilled the Indian armed forces’ operational need for accurately engaging high-value targets deep inside the enemy territory. Different variants are available for the forces: land-to-land, land-to-sea, sea-to-land, sea-to-sea, air-to-land and air-to-sea. We have received many orders from the Navy ensuring each warship is armed with BrahMos. BrahMos wants to offer an unparalleled precision strike system, not for profits alone. It is a “true Brahmastra.”

Is the BrahMos system costly? How are you handling the concern?

When parameters such as quality, reliability, precision, high-end technology, supersonic speed come with a very low maintenance system, which significantly reduce the cost of ownership, then high cost doesn’t become an issue. More importantly, the shelf-life of the weapon system makes a major contribution towards the cost of ownership. BrahMos is a “hermetically-sealed” missile.

The Indian forces are still using missiles of the 2005/7 vintage with great efficiency. If you analyse the ‘hit time’ of any missile, other cruise missiles of the world are nowhere comparable. At a speed of 2.8 Mach, BrahMos takes about 5 minutes to reach its target at 290 km, while others take somewhere around 15-20 minutes, making them vulnerable to interception. In war time, response time is the crux and we don’t give any response time to the enemy to react. This is the best product at the best price.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has raised caution about the complex defence ecosystem. Your expectations from the industry working with you?

In today’s rapidly evolving global security landscape, international dynamics have truly changed. To resolve these issues we have already pushed indigenisation of components, sub-systems and materials leading to production in a faster manner. Ramping up the production capacity and meeting the growing demand is the need of the hour. Government policies are at the right place. The PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal) factors are positive. it is imperative for our industries to streamline their production and scale up their operations and investments.

Delivery of the missile system to the Philippines has begun, when will it be complete?

The missile has become a significant game-changer for the Philippines. The delivery of the missiles under the $375 million deal is continuing as part of the contractual timeline. A team of the Philippine armed forces has also appreciated the weapon system, training programmes and state-of-the-art facilities being provided to them by BrahMos Aerospace.

(With Inputs From MSN.com)