Vietnam will be the first country to receive unrivaled weapons produced by Russia and India.

According to Russian defense industry leaders, Vietnam will be supplied with BrahMos missiles developed by a joint venture between Russia and India.

Vietnam ranks No. 1 in the priority list for BrahMos exports

On January 27, General Director of the Military-Industrial Corporation "Machine Building" (NPO Mashinostroyenia), Mr. Alexandr Leonov, said that the "BrahMos" missile jointly produced by Russia and India will be exported to third countries.

"Yes, I and the leadership of the BrahMos Aerospace consortium have always said that supplying the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to third countries is possible in the near future," the leader of NPO Mashinostroyenia answered a journalist's question about the possibility of exporting the missile.

When answering a journalist's question about whether it is possible to export BrahMos to third countries in the future, including Vietnam and the UAE, Mr. Alexandr Leonov affirmed that this is not difficult, because Russia and India have identified their priority customers.

However, he also made it clear that the Russian-Indian consortium has not yet carried out any export contracts, because the current delivery plan is mainly to serve the number 1 priority customer, the Indian army. But now the consortium can consider other countries.

In August 2016, the famous defense magazine Jane's Defence Weekly reported that, ranked number 1 on the export priority list, Vietnam had soon raised the issue with Russia and India about purchasing this supersonic anti-ship cruise missile, the most powerful in the world.

According to Jane's, negotiations between Vietnam and India on the supply of Brahmos missiles are progressing well, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar discussed the arms procurement contract with Vietnam's Defense leaders.

BrahMos missile is considered to have the world's number 1 features.

The negotiations have taken into account the option of very close cooperation as India plans to send a permanent team of engineers to Vietnam to help the Vietnamese Navy understand the process of using and operating the weapon system. Accordingly, the transfer of BrahMos may take place in the near future.

In addition, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar also announced that India will sell Vietnam this supersonic anti-ship missile with a range of 290 km and Vietnam will be the first country to receive this advanced weapon jointly produced by Russia and India.

Earlier, the Indian government had asked the BrahMos Aerospace consortium to expedite missile sales to five countries on the list of “India’s friends”. In this special category, Vietnam is the number one priority. Next are Indonesia, South Africa, Chile and Brazil.

BrahMos missile will have no rivals in both features and exports

In late December 2016, Indian Minister of State for Defense Subhash Bhamre said that India and Russia had agreed to extend the range of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. This was also confirmed by President Putin during his visit to India in October 2016.

Mr. Bhamre revealed on December 16, 2016 that Russia and India have decided to launch a joint development process for a new missile technology, increasing the range of the BrahMos missile to double the current range of 600km, after New Dehli joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in June.

According to Baodatviet