New Delhi[India], December 3 : During the visit of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to India beginning Thursday, India and Russia are likely to discuss the development of advanced variants of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, which proved to be the game changer for the Indian defence forces during the four-day Operation Sindoor against Pakistan.
A need has been felt in the country for developing the lighter variants of the missiles like the BrahMos NG which can be fitted on all types of fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force with capability to hit targets at over 400 km and longer range versions of the missiles which can engage targets at more than three times of the present capability, defence sources told ANI.
The sources said the discussion is likely to take place between the two sides during the Russian President's visit.
BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles have proven to be one of the best co-development models for military hardware between India and Russia, who are old and time-tested allies.
In the meetings held in the run-up to President Putin's visit, the two sides have been discussing cooperation in field of hypersonic missiles as well as air-to-air missiles with long ranges. President Putin will be on a two-day visit to India.
India is also likely to clear the deal for 280 missiles of the S-400 Sudarshan Chakra air defence missile system as they were used successfully against Pakistani targets at multiple locations across the length and breadth of that country.
India has gone in a big way to equip its Navy and the other two services with BrahMos missiles and has also been able to successfully export the missile to the Philippines and is likely to achieve success with more sales in Asian region.
The BrahMos, with its supersonic speeds, is very difficult to intercept for the enemy forces and hit its targets without any issues during the conflict with Pakistan in May earlier this year.