India and Russia have approved the proposal to double the range of the BrahMos, world’s first supersonic cruise missile at the 16th Russia-India intergovernmental commission on military cooperation meeting.

• During the annual summit in Goa, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached an agreement to develop different range of the BrahMos.
• One of the ranges agreed upon was to double it from current range of 186 miles which received final nod on October 26 during the Russia-India intergovernmental commission on military cooperation meeting co-chaired by Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu.
• The proposal to increase the range of BrahMos was under consideration for a long time and now it is formalized after India became a member of Missile Technology Control Regime this year. It is said that only minor changes will be enough to extend the range of BrahMos up to 372 miles.
• Currently, BrahMos is capable of hitting targets beyond the radar horizon and can be launched from sea based and land based weapon systems. Test fire of an air-launched version of Brahmos cruise missile expected to be held in February next year.
• The 2.5 metric ton Brahmos air-to-ground missile will be fired from an IAF (Indian Air Force) Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft that has undergone modifications to accommodate the new weapon. A successful preliminary trial has already been carried out, and two more dummy trials are in the pipeline before the actual test.