New Delhi: With the 300 km range maximum limit curb being no longer applicable after India joined the elite Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), India and Russia have agreed to extend the range of Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles, the government said on Friday.
The proposal for undertaking joint technical development work for extending range beyond 300 km between India and Russia has been already executed.
“Subsequent to the India joining MTCR, Russia and India have agreed to extend the range of Brahmos supersonic cruise missile beyond 300 km,” minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
In its first entry into any multilateral export control regime, India joined the MTCR in June as a full member. China, which stonewalled India’s entry into the NSG at the Seoul plenary in June, is not a member of the MTCR.
Brahmos is a stealth short-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land that travels at speeds of up to Mach 3.0 or three times the speed of sound.
Three Brahmos regiments have been operational in the Army since 2007 while the Navy’s 10 frontline warships have deployed the missile. India plans to raise three squadrons of Sukhoi-30 fighters equipped with Brahmos missiles within first four months of 2017.
