India got its first ever export order for BrahMos missiles on Friday when the Philippines' Defence Ministry signed USD 374 million contract with the BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL) to supply undisclosed number of missiles, military officials stated.
The BAPL, an India-Russian joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms.
The USD 374 million contract is to supply shore-based anti-ship BrahMos missiles to the Philippines' Navy, the military officials noted.
In a statement, the Defence Ministry said: "The BAPL signed a contract with the Department of National Defence of the Republic of Philippines on January 28, 2022, for supply of shore-based anti-ship missile system to Philippines."
"The BAPL is a joint venture company of the Defence Research and Development Organisation. The contract is an important step forward for Government of India's policy of promoting responsible defence exports," it added.
India has already deployed a sizable number of the Brahmos missiles and other key assets in several strategic locations along the Line of Actual Control with China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
To take you back, India in 2020 successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with several indigenous features from a test range in Odisha, in a major step towards achieving "Atmanirbhar Bharat" pledge, defence sources said.
The surface-to-surface cruise missile, featuring indigenous booster and airframe section along with other Made in India sub-systems, blasted off from the launching complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) near here, a defence statement said.
Describing the trial conducted at 10.30 am as "successful", Defence Research and Development (DRDO) officials said, all parameters were met during the flight test of the missile which has a strike range of more than 400 km.
The BrahMos Land-Attack Cruise Missile (LACM) was cruising at a top speed of Mach 2.8. The successful trial of the state-of-the-art cruise missile is one more major step in enhancing the indigenous content, the statement said.
"Todays successful launch has paved the way for the serial production of the indigenous booster and other indigenous components of the powerful BrahMos Weapon System realising Atma Nirbhar Bharat pledge," it said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and DRDO chairman congratulated DRDO personnel, team BrahMos and the industry for the spectacular mission. The BrahMos missile can be launched from land, sea platforms as well as fighter jets. The first extended version of the missile, which had a strike range of 450 km, was successfully tested on March 11, 2017.
On September 30, 2019 a shorter range land version of BrahMos was successfully test fired from Chandipur ITR.
