06.10.2008
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Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) will participate in the joint development of a new cruise missile with India only if a decision is made to adopt it for service with the Russian Air Force, the company said on Friday.
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UAC was formed last year from leading domestic plane producers to streamline the country's aircraft-building industry, and includes Ilyushin, Tupolev, Sukhoi, Antonov and Mikoyan, as well as companies involved in distribution.
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"Our participation will be certain only if we receive an official request to equip Russian fighters, the Su-MKI in particular, with these missiles. So far we have not received such a request," said UAC president Alexey Fyodorov.
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Russia and India announced in September plans to jointly develop a new <i>BrahMos</i>-2 hypersonic cruise missile.
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The new missile will have a top speed of over Mach 5, which would make it virtually impossible to intercept.
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At present, <i>BrahMos</i> Aerospace, a joint Indian-Russian venture, produces and markets <i>BrahMos</i> supersonic missiles, whose sea-based and land-based versions have been successfully tested and put into service with the Indian army and navy.
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The head of <i>BrahMos Aerospace</i>, Sivathanu Pillai, earlier said that the company had finished the development of the airborne version of the <i>BrahMos</i> missile and the Indian air force had chosen the SU-30 MKI <i>Flanker</i>-H multirole fighter as a trial platform for the missile.
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The <i>BrahMos</i> missile has a range of 290 km (180 miles) and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg (660 pounds). It can hit ground targets flying at an altitude as low as 10 meters (30 feet) and has a top speed of Mach 2.8, which is about three times faster than the U.S.-made subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile.
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Analysts estimate that India could purchase up to 1,000 BrahMos missiles for its armed forces in the next decade, and export 2,000 to other countries during the same period.
