MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - A supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, developed jointly by Russia and India, leaves any enemy helpless as no effective protection against the BrahMos has been created so far, Sudhir Mishra, the new head of the BrahMos Aerospace Corporation told Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
“Supersonic speed is the BrahMos’ major advantage. An enemy has yet no effective protection against such missiles. After the missile is launched, all the enemy can do is run. In fact, he has even no time to escape. That is why this is a very promising weapon. And it has no alternatives in the world so far,” Mishra said in an interview Tuesday adding that “even if any other country succeeds one day in creating missiles with similar characteristics, we will be a way ahead already.”
The BrahMos Aerospace chief said also that a number of countries are currently interested in the project, which may pave the way for the BrahMos’ exports in the future.
“It will be possible to export the BrahMos only to friendly nations, determined by the governments of India and Russia. Currently, many states are interested in our missiles. As soon as our governments decide on where to export we will be ready for deliveries,” Mishra stressed.
The Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace was founded in 1998 by the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization and Russian rocket design bureau of Machine Building. The venture was named after two rivers, the Brahmaputra in India and Russia’s Moskva.
The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 kilometers (180 miles) and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds). It can effectively engage targets from an altitude as low as 10 meters (30 feet) and has a top speed of Mach 2.8, which is about three times faster than the US-made subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile.
