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NEW DELHI: India has moved closer to inking deals to export BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to Vietnam and Indonesia, which collectively will be worth over Rs 4,000 crore ($450 million).Russia, the joint developer of BrahMos missiles that fly at almost three times the speed of sound (Mach 2.8), has assured India that it has no objection to the precision-strike weapon being sold to Vietnam and Indonesia, defence sources said.With the assurance being given during the delegation-level meeting between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov on Dec 4, a formal no-objection certificate is now awaited from Moscow. “Both Vietnam and Indonesia, after agreeing to the initial deals, may go for more orders in the future,” a source said.Once the deals are inked, Vietnam and Indonesia will become the other Asean countries after the Philippines to buy the air-breathing missiles. India had inked a $375 million contract to supply three anti-ship BrahMos coastal batteries to the Philippines in Jan 2022. “Manila, too, is likely to order more BrahMos missiles,” the source said. All three countries, incidentally, have major concerns over China’s strong-arm tactics and expansionism in the South China Sea, with confrontations escalating, especially between Manila and Beijing, over the last couple of years.India, on its part, had successfully deployed the BrahMos missiles, whose range has been increased to 450 km from the original 290 km, from Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets for targeted strikes deep into Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May.Over the years, Indian armed forces have inked deals worth around Rs 60,000 crore with Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace, with the missiles becoming the prime conventional (non-nuclear) precision-strike weapons for IAF, Navy and Army.India also plans to begin inducting the new 800-km BrahMos from 2028 onwards, with tests currently underway for the extended-range missiles with a modified ramjet engine and other upgrades, as was earlier reported by TOI.Apart from Brahmos missiles, India wants to sell the indigenous Akash air defence missile systems, which can intercept hostile aircraft, helicopters, drones and subsonic cruise missiles at a 25-km range, and Pinaka multi-launch rocket systems to the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam as well as other “friendly countries” like the UAE and Brazil.While India is still in the strategically vulnerable position of being among the top three arms importers in the world, it exported a wide range of arms, ammunition, defence sub-systems and components, worth nearly Rs 24,000 crore, to around 80 countries in the 2024-25 fiscal.In this, Armenia is one of India’s biggest clients of ‘finished’ weapon systems like Akash air defence missile systems, Pinaka rocket systems and 155mm artillery guns, as was reported by TOI earlier. Go to Source
