India and Russia to develop hypersonic cruise missiles: BrahMos chief

Tiruchirapalli: India and Russia have given initial clearance for the development of a more advanced weapon system than the BrahMos - in all probability a hypersonic cruise missile -according to BrahMos Aerospace CEO and managing director, A Sivathanu Pillai.

Speaking to reporters, Pillai said that with the two countries now becoming leaders in supersonic missile systems - with the successful development of Brahmos cruise missiles - leadership in this area needed to be sustained. Towards this end, work would now start on a new weapons system, with initial clearance being received from both the governments.

Pillai, who is also the chief controller of research and development wing of DRDO, said India was now thinking of configuring the new weapon system, which would be more advanced than Brahmos, and also be a world class product. According to Pillai, both partners are looking at developing improvised and advanced features in the new weapon system, including pin-point accuracy on various types of targets, user-friendly design, more commercial viability and greater cost-effectiveness.

Talking about the production of the army version of the missile, he said that it was in full swing, as also the naval version, which would soon be inducted aboard various ships.

He also said that both the countries had discussed the export of BrahMos missiles, and that he was confident that the export process would commence soon. He also said that Russia had already collated the list of countries to which the system, most likely the anti-ship version, would be exported.