India Will Have Its First Hypersonic Missile In Five To Six Years: BrahMos Chief

“In five to six years, we will be able to have our first hypersonic missile by BrahMos,” Rane added, according to the news agency.

BrahMos Chief Atul Dinkar Rane. (File Photo/Image: Twitter @DRDO_India)

New Delhi: BrahMos Aerospace Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD), Atul Dinkar Rane, on Monday said India will have its first hypersonic missile in five to six years, ANI reported. Rane said BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russian multinational aerospace and defence corporation, “is capable of making hypersonic missiles”.

“In five to six years, we will be able to have our first hypersonic missile by BrahMos,” Rane added, according to the news agency.

The BrahMos Aerospace CEO and MD was speaking at an event over the commencement of ‘Silver Jubilee Year’ celebration (1998-2023) to mark the incredible journey of one of India’s most successful, cutting-edge military partnership programmes that has produced the world's best, fastest and most powerful modern precision strike weapon BrahMos.

The ‘Silver Jubilee Year’ celebrations, which began on June 12 to mark 21 glorious years of the maiden supersonic launch of unbeatable BrahMos, would culminate on February 12 next year on the 'BrahMos Raising Day'.

The JV entity has during the ‘Silver Jubilee Year’ celebrations planned to organize several key events, meets and national-level competitions, including the industry partners’ meet to acknowledge and highlight the invaluable contributions made by the JV's key industry partners as part of the missile manufacturing industry ecosystem within the country.

In addition, there will be a user interaction meeting to acknowledge the contribution and professionalism of the Indian armed forces operating the world’s best supersonic cruise missile system.

Besides, a national-level competition on cutting-edge technology and its application in the missiles and aerospace field are to be held with an aim to orient and nurture young talent in the field of missile technology.

As part of the ‘Silver Jubilee Year’ celebrations, the company has announced to spend a fair share of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds for women empowerment-related programmes and projects across India.

BrahMos Aerospace has in over the two decades of its spectacular journey achieved numerous historic milestones and realized many “firsts” in the nation.

Charting out the course for the next phase of this ambitious journey, the JV has started work on its new, state-of-the-art BRAHMOS manufacturing centre to come up in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh as part of the UP Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) Project.

Earlier on June 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the initiation of all major industrial projects under the UPDIC, including the setting up of the dedicated BrahMos facility which would design, develop and produce the highly advanced BRAHMOS Next-Generation (NG) weapon system.

BrahMos Aerospace, which has received around 80 hectares of land in Uttar Pradesh for the establishment of the new manufacturing centre with an initial investment of Rs 300 crore, plans to complete all manufacturing-related work for the new facility by the mid of 2024.

This dedicated facility once fully operational, will produce 80-100 BrahMos systems each year.

Work on the BRAHMOS-NG missile has also progressed and it would be ready for serial production in the next three to five years.

The BRAHMOS-NG manufacturing centre would further bolster the missile industry consortium in India and help galvanize the defence ecosystem for high-end missile technology.

It would also position India as one of the top-ranking defence technology centres in the world.

The supersonic cruise missile has been successfully operationalised in all three services of the Indian armed forces (in the Indian Navy in 2005, in the Indian Army in 2007 and in the Indian Air Force in 2020).

After charting one after other incredible milestones and spectacular successes, BrahMos brought the first and foremost major breakthrough in India's military exports front by becoming the first full-scale weapon to be exported to a responsible, friendly nation.

Earlier on January 28, BrahMos Aerospace signed a significant agreement with the Republic of the Philippines to deliver a shore-based anti-ship BRAHMOS system to the Philippine Navy.