India, Russia pact to extend BrahMos missile partnership

India and Russia are expected to sign a pact during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit there to extend their partnership indefinitely for producing the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.

The BrahMos, jointly developed by India and Russia, is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 300 kg at a maximum speed of 2.8 Mach (or 2.8 times the speed of sound). India is readying several versions of the missile which includes land attack, anti-ship and submarine-launched versions.

India and Russia had recently also agreed to develop a hypersonic version of the cruise missile. India has plans of deploying the BrahMos on its frontline fighter aircraft Su-30MKI in next few years and trials are expected to be carried out by early next year.