Domestic Firm May Build Parts For BrahMos Missile

India’s Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) may bag the order to manufacture components for the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos.

The country's biggest integrated engineering complex is in the final round of talks with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and is likely to bag the order early this year, said B K Sharma, general manager (marketing) on Monday.

HEC will build the aluminium chassis of the 10m-long supersonic cruise missile that can strike from air, sea and land to hit a target over 290km away.

The company is also planning to build BrahMos's engine components at its sprawling facility on the fringes of the capital, according to The Times of India.

A joint aerospace programme between India and Russia, BrahMos is a supersonic stealth cruise missile that has a flight altitude of 15km and can carry a payload of 300kg, including a nuclear warhead.

The missile was inducted into the Indian Navy and Army in 2006 and is undergoing trials for its introduction in the Air Force.

The advanced version of BrahMos, a hypersonic stealth cruise that can notch up the speed to Mach 7, is being development. The supersonic cruise missile's speed ranges between Mach 2.5 and Mach 2.8 and is around three-and-a-half times faster than the American subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile.