BrahMos Takes Center Stage: Navy Chief Affirms Priority Following Rs 19,000 Crore Approval

Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar of the Indian Navy announced on Monday that the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile will take the place of the outdated missile system that was imported from abroad as the Indian Navy’s main weapon. “BrahMos, our surface-to-surface missile weapon, will now be our main weapon. That will likely be the main air-to-surface weapon carried by the Air Force and air fighters. This has changed in terms of its lethality, range, and other attributes. Since this will likely be the main weapon for some time, we are installing the BrahMos and replacing all of the outdated missiles with this one. We now have the know-how to install it quickly,” the Navy chief stated.

Highlighting the fact that BrahMos is made in India the Navy Chief said that the missile is “a great advantage”.
“It is a very potent missile, and it has been evolving also, in range capability and so on. So the fact is that it is made in India, so we are not dependent on anybody else. It can be repaired, and spares are available. So it’s a great advantage,” he said.
The Navy chief remarks come soon after the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the deal for over 200 BrahMos missiles under a Rs 19,000 crore contract set to be signed on March 5.
The Navy Chief said this on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the Defence expo in Pune.

On Monday, the Navy Chief went to the Defence expo in Pune. The Navy Chief emphasized the importance of MSME in India’s goal to become Atmnirbhar Bharat in defence manufacturing during his visit to various stalls of various MSME industries involved in defence manufacturing. “This is a unique exhibition,” stated the Navy Chief. They’ve managed to assemble a number of MSMEs… Developing the ecosystem and environment for indigenization is crucial. Defense Expos help with this and promote homegrown manufacturing… Events such as this MSME expo are very important. More than 118 agreements have been inked, and roughly ten to twelve products have also received approval. We are receiving a great deal of information from MSMEs and startups.”

The Defence expo saw the participation of large number of MSMEs, private companies, Defence Research and Development Oraganisation (DRDO) laboratories and Defence Public Sector Unit (DPSU) setups in Maharashtra. This reflected India’s progress towards achieving ‘Atmanirbharta’ in Defence and integration of Armed Forces requirements, R and D and Defence production by public and private players.