Government to buy additional Brahmos missiles for frontline warships worth 1700 crore rupees

The Defence Ministry signed a contract worth 1700 crore rupees on September 22, 2022, with Brahmos Aerospace private limited, to buy additional missiles for frontline warships. Providing further drive to Aatmanirbhar Bharat the ministry will buy the missiles with a strike range of 290 km. 

Brahmos Aerospace Private Limited(BAPL) is a Joint Venture between India and Russia making an important contribution to increasing the new generation of Surface-to-Surface Missiles with advanced range and dual role capability for land and anti-ship attacks.

Ministry of Defence signs a contract with M/s BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited for acquisition of additional dual-role capable Surface to Surface BrahMos missiles at an overall approximate cost of 1700 Crore rupees under Buy-Indian Category. pic.twitter.com/vbfe9wIYU9

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts)
September 22, 2022 

Brahmos Missiles for Frontline warships: Significance

1. Induction of these additional dual-role capable Missiles will significantly enhance the operational capability of Indian Navy fleet assets.
2. The following contact is going to provide an important boost to indigenous production of the critical weapon system.
3. The Brahmos missiles are also expected to enhance ammunition with the active participation of indigenous industry.

Brahmos Missiles: All you need to know

1. The air-breathing BrahMos files approx three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8.
2. The missiles have emerged as the “precision-strike conventional(non-nuclear) weapon. 
3. The Army’s BrahMos missile batteries have been established in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
4. The missiles are placed along with tanks, howitzer, surface-to-air missiles, and other weapons.
5. INS Visakhapatnam, the Indian Navy’s lasted guided missile destroyer was commissioned in November 2021.
6. In January 2022, INS Visakhapatnam successfully tested the missile’s extended range version. 
7. Moreover, ten frontline warships are already armed with the missiles while the vertical launch systems have also been installed on another five warships. 

Background

The range of BrahMos produced collaboratively by Russia has also been extended from the original 290 km to 350-400 km now, while an 800 km variant is also in the works. The Indian Air Force(IAF), has also inducted two land-based BrahMos squadrons, while the sleeker air-launched version is also being progressively fitted on Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets. A Sukhoi armed with BrahMos forms a formidable long-range weapons package with a radius of almost 1500 km mid-air refueling.

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