India, Russia to develop new hypersonic cruise missile

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) India and Russia have agreed to
develop and induct a new hypersonic version of their joint
venture 290-kilometre-range BrahMos cruise missile by 2015.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was
signed between the two sides last month, in which they agreed
on the final parameters for the new version of the cruise
missile, Defence Ministry sources said.
The new missile, they said, will be known as 'BrahMos-2'
and will have a speed of over 6 Mach (around 6,000 kilometres
per hour) with a striking-range of 290 kilometres.
The range of the missile will not be extended as the
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), to which Russia is a
signatory, does not allow it to help other countries to
develop missiles with ranges above 300 kilometres, they said.
Under the agreement, the two sides have decided to retain
the physical parameters of the missile so that after the
induction of the missiles there is no need to replace the
launchers and other ground infrastructure for using new
missiles. (MORE) PTI