Indian Army to induct BrahMos in large numbers this year
24 Mar 2007
In an interview to Russian weekly, Nezavisimoye Voyennoe Obozrenie (The Independent Military Review), in Moscow, Dr Pillai mentioned that a total of 13 tests were conducted with the missile and the Indian Army was satisfied with its "precision hits". The army will get the missiles mounted on mobile platforms in "large numbers," said Dr Pillai
In this regard, he also mentioned that India and Russia were the only countries possessing a supersonic cruise missile, and that the BrahMos was all set to end the era of the much-hyped US Tomahawk cruise missiles.
"With a range of 299 km, the BrahMos cruise missile flies at the speed of 2.8 Mach (almost three times the speed of sound), while the Tomahawk is a subsonic cruise missile with the speed of 0.8 Mach," Dr Pillai said.
The US had made effective use of the Tomahawk during the Gulf war, but since then active work across the world had been underway to counter the missile. As of date, Dr Pillai pointed out, there were no means to counter the BrahMos, thanks to its speed and other features.
"India and Russia today have a monopoly in the field and BrahMos will end the era of Tomahawks," Dr Pillai said.
The interview has been published under the title "Moskva River becomes tributary of Brahmaputra to drown the much-hyped Tomahawk".
Dr Pillai mentioned that there were plans for exporting the missile, particularly to Asian countries. He also indicated that India is going to treble the production of the BrahMos.
According to Dr Pillai the Indian Navy had already inducted the anti-ship version of the BrahMos, while an air-to-surface version was in advanced stages of development and the only task remaining was its integration with on-board avionics of the platform that will deliver it.
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