India is expected to soon sign a deal with the Philippines for exporting BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, news agency ANI reported. The deal is currently in its advanced stage of negotiations and could be a major success for the Narendra Modi led government as the export deal would take the government closer to its aim of excelling in defence exports and manufacturing defence items in India.
"India and Philippines are in an advanced stage of negotiations over the sale of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. Export order likely to be placed soon," news agency ANI quoted its government sources as saying.
"DRDO and BrahMos Aerospace together have been pushing hard for exports of this missile to friendly foreign countries: for the last few months," they added.
As per the reports, India is currently negotiating with several other nations as well and could likely get more orders from them for the missile system.
BrahMos is a universal long-range supersonic cruise missile system that can be launched from land, sea and air. It has been jointly developed by DRDO, India, and NPOM, Russia. In addition to this, the missile's capability was also enhanced after the anti-ship missile system was enriched with more modern technological developments.
The deal can also positively impact the country's 'Make in India' campaign by strengthening India's conviction to continue manufacturing defence weapons in their own land.
Earlier in December, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had also said that the country aims to manufacture all weapon systems and platforms required by the armed forces in India itself. He had made these remarks during his talks with French defence minister Florence Parly.
"For the security of India and its people, it is necessary that we develop our defence capacity and capability so that even the most powerful country in the world has to think a thousand times before planning anything that endangers our interests," Singh said.
Also Read | Rajnath, Yogi lay foundation stone of BrahMos unit
On December 26 this year, the defence minister also laid the foundation stone of the BrahMoS missile production unit and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lab in Lucknow. He also said that the unit will play a crucial role in strengthening the country's security and also significantly contribute to the defence production sector.
“Brahmos has empowered the Armed Forces and raised India’s military stature at the international level,” said Singh.
