New Delhi: Amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, the Indian Army is looking to place a huge order for 800 km strike range variant of BrahMos supersonic Cruise missiles.
The Indian army is currently operating Cruise missiles, which can hit targets at 450 km plus and is now looking to place orders for the 800 km plus strike range variant of BrahMos Cruise missiles, Defence officials were quoted as saying in a news report of an online national news portal.The defence ministry is expected to give the go-ahead to the Army plans at a high-level Defence ministry meeting scheduled to be held in the next few days. The missiles had proven themselves in a big way during the India-Pakistan conflict under Operation Sindoor in May last year.BrahMos missiles were used in a big way by the Indian defence forces to destroy the Pakistan Air Force bases at multiple locations during the war.The ongoing conflict between Iran, the US, and Israel has also shown the importance of long-range missiles.The Indian Army is now looking at the induction of drones and missiles in large quantities to be able to meet the requirements of new-generation warfare.The Indian Army has taken huge steps and carried out large-scale force structuring under which specialised Drone regiments and platoons are being created in the regiment of artillery and infantry regiments.Separately, the defence forces are also looking at the creation of a dedicated missile force and increasing their numbers in the inventory.The Army has also started manufacturing drones in its workshops, and production is being done at large scale. BrahMos supersonic Cruise missiles are produced under a joint venture between Indian and Russia, and the last part of it has been indigenised. All three forces have the missiles in their inventory, which are used in air-launched, antiship and land attack rules.India is now also planning to manufacture the BrahMos next-generation missiles, which can allow them to be fitted on indigenous fighter aircraft, like the light Combat aircraft, Tejas.
