Faced with two long unsettled borders with China and Pakistan, it is essential for India to possess potent instruments of deterrence as well as robust response like the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles that have long range and precision-strike capabilities, the country's military brass said on Wednesday.
"The lethal combination of BrahMos missiles, whose range has been extended to 450-km from the original 290-km, fitted on the Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets has really given us a tremendous capability to enhance our firepower," said IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, at the silver jubilee celebrations of the India-Russia joint venture BrahMos Aerospace here.
"It has made the deterrence value of IAF go up by leaps and bounds... As the situation unfolded in the northern borders (with China) three years ago, we realised that the potent weapon can be used very effectively for land attacks," he said.
The next-generation BrahMos, a smaller and lighter version of the existing missile that flies almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8, will also be fitted on to smaller fighters like the MiG-29s, Mirage-2000s and Tejas light combat aircraft. A 800-km range variant of the BrahMos has also undergone its maiden test, as was earlier reported by TOI.
"Due to our legacy issues of unsettled borders and related security challenges, possession of strategic deterrence instruments in our case is essential. And the three Services as users of the Brahmos missile systems now stand enabled for not just deterrence but also to respond robustly when required," Army chief General Manoj Pande said.
Describing BrahMos as a "Brahmastra" of armed forces, chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan, in turn, said the ongoing drive for 'Aatmanirbharta' (self-reliance) did not mean that India alone will produce all weapon systems. "We are going to establish joint ventures (with foreign partners) in India and BrahMos Aerospace is one such venture. It has been a major success story."
Source: Times of India