Defence ministry contract for BrahMos missiles

The Indian Government has inked a Rs.1,700 crore contract with BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd for procuring BrahMos missiles.

Key facts

  • The contract was signed by the Defence Ministry to purchase 35 combat and 3 practice BrahMos supersonic dual-role surface-to-surface cruise missiles.
  • The range of these missiles is 290 km and they are capable of both land attack and anti-ship strikes.
  • Their speed is 2.8 Mach, which is almost three times the speed of sound.
  • These missiles will be equipped in two P-15B class stealth guided missile destroyers of the Indian Navy.
  • This is expected to significantly boost India’s naval capabilities.
  • They are brought under Buy-In category, which aims to boost indigenous production of critical weapon systems and ammunitions with active participation of indigenous defence industry.

What is BrahMos Missile?

BrahMos is the fastest supersonic missile and the fastest anti-ship cruise missile in the world. It was developed by BrahMos Aerospace – a joint venture between DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya. The missile was named after Brahmaputra river in India and Moskva river in Russia. In 2016, since India entered into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), India and Russia decided to develop a new generation of Brahmos missiles with a range of 400 km and then increase it to 600 km. The extended range version has been tested from warships, including from INS Visakhapatnam.

About Project 15B

Under the Project 15B, four stealth guided missile destroyers are being constructed at the cost of Rs. 29,643.74 crore. These destroyers are improved versions of Kolkata-class destroyers. These four vessels are named after major cities from all four corners of India. These are Visakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal and Surat. While INS Visakhapatnam was commissioned in 2021, the rest were launched into waters. They were designed by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design and constructed by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai. These vessels will be equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors, including BrahMos and Barak-8 surface-to-air missiles.


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