India likely to sell missiles
Saturday 14-05-2005
NEW DELHI: India may soon join world powers in selling defence equipment and that too not small arms but missiles. So far India has been a buyer of hi-tech defence equipment but its collaboration for the past decade with other countries to manufacture weapons on its soil appears to have paid off. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that some countries have approached India to buy the missiles it manufactured, but he declined to name them. It is, however, an open secret among defence experts that certain African and West Asian countries have made inquiries about the missiles and that their interest may be in Brahmo missiles being developed in India in collaboration with Russia.
India and Russia are set to market the 290-kilometre range Brahmos, the world’s only short-range supersonic cruise missile. The 9-metre long missile that can carry a payload of 200 to 300 kilogrammes and cruise at an altitude of 15 km, is under trials and its range meets the criteria by Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The MTCR imposes curbs on the missile exported by any country that have a range exceeding 300 km.
Brahmos is not the only missile that will put India on the map of the big missile manufacturers. It is also developing Aakash as a medium range surface-to-air missile but with a range of 27 km and capacity to carry a warhead of 60 kg. Prithvis are attracting foreign buyers since they not only have a range of 150 and 250 km but Prithvi-1 can carry a payload of 1,000 kg while Prithvi-2 can carry a payload of 500 to 750 kg…
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_14-5-2005_pg7_45
What’s Pakistan’s answer to Brahamos? Nothing, I guess! What good are the JF-17s if Hindustan can destroy them on the ground with it’s supersonic Brahamos?