Brahmos becomes hugely popular after Operation Sindoor, India’s fire-and-forget missile is now wanted by….

Operation Sindoor can be loosely called as Surgical strike 2.0. But it was hugely different from what happened in Balakot in 2019. This time India hit Pakistan in its heart and without crossing the LoC. This brave act was possible with India supersonic cruise missile – the Brahmos, which was first successful tested off the Chandipur coast of Odisha in 2021.

In April this year, India dispatched the second batch of BrahMos supersonic missiles to the Philippines, marking a milestone in global defence cooperation. This follows a $375 million deal signed in 2022.

According to reports, many countries have expressed fresh interest in acquiring this advanced system. At present, India has three variants of this missile – the air-launched version, the land-based-version and submarine-based version.

Brahmos is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine. At its first stage, the engine brings the missile to supersonic speed and then gets separated.

What is Brahmos?

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. BrahMos is an amalgamation of the names of the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers.

Which countries want to acquire Brahmos?

According to report following are countries which are interested in Brahmos:

Vietnam: India is close to finalising a $700 million deal to supply Brahmos missiles to Vietnam, boosting its maritime defence against China.

Malaysia: Malaysia may consider Brahmos missiles for its Sukhoi Su-30MKM fighter jets and Kedah-class warships.

Thailand, Singapore, Brunei: These South-East Asian countries are in various stages of negotiations with India.

Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela: These Latin American countries are interested in the naval and coastal defence variants of Brahmos

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman: These Middle Eastern countries have also expressed interest, with talks in advanced stages with some of them.

South Africa, Bulgaria: South Africa and Bulgaria are in different stages of negotiation for possible procurement.

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