The Chilean military has expressed its interest in the BrahMos missile which India and Russia jointly developed. Notably, the BrahMos entity is already registered with Chilean Armed Forces which is a mandatory process as laid down by the county requirement for any company to export system to Chile. Meanwhile, for any negotiations, the foreign vendor will have to register itself with tri-services of Chile. Defence cooperation is going be one of the agendas discussed when President Ramnath Kovind will meet his counterpart President Sebastián Piñera in his upcoming visit to the South American nation.
The BrahMos is a medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft and land. It is reportedly the fastest cruise missile in the world. It is jointly developed between the Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroyeniya and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) who together have formed BrahMos Aerospace.
One of the most advanced missiles in the world, the BrahMos system can reach speeds of up to Mach 2.8 and has a range of nearly 400 km, say its makers making it one of the world's fastest cruise missiles. The BrahMos II, which is now under development, is expected to reach speeds of Mach 7. Financial Express has reported that the Chilean Air force immediately reached out to Indian defence ministry after the successful trials of the BrahMos missile aboard the SU-30 MKI. Impressed by its lethality, Chile has shown its interest to interest in the coastal, naval as well as air version of the missile.
Moreover, the Latin nation has also shown its willingness in mobile autonomous launchers for coastal defence batteries, ship-based weapons complex for submarines and frigates. One of the people close to the development said, "There has been a lot of interest for the ship and shore-based platforms. With its reduced size BrahMos NG (Next Generation) can be accommodated in a number of sea and air platforms."
Apart from Chile, BrahMos has also caught the attention of other Latin countries including Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Brazil due to its low cost of manufacturing which is just $300 million. Additionally, there is a good scope for the Indian defence manufacturing companies to be a part modernization of the Chilean armed forces. Chiefs of the armed forces from both countries are deliberating on the issues pertaining to shipbuilding, radar systems, submarines and joint training.
