India's long-range anti-ship hypersonic missile (LR-AShM) will have more capabilities than the current BrahMos, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman Samir V. Kamat confirmed.
Speaking to news agency ANI, the DRDO chief said two development trials of the hypersonic missile have been done and that a third trial will happen soon.
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"Once these development trials are over, we will offer it to the user for user evaluation trials. Then these missiles should get inducted," he was quoted as saying.
He expressed confidence that the system will be a "gamechanger" for India's defence services as it will have many more capabilities than the current BrahMos missile because it travels much faster than BrahMos does and will have a much higher range.
"So, it will definitely add to the arsenal of our services," he said.
The successful testing of the long-range anti-ship hypersonic missile positioned India among the select group of nations with hypersonic missile capabilities.
He said the DRDO is also working on a land attack variant of the same missile, which is "slightly at an earlier stage than the anti-ship one." "We have plans to take up the air launch version but that will be after the land launch or ship launch versions are complete."
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Further, he hailed the budgetary allocation for the defence sector, saying, "The budget is very good for the defence sector. Not only has the capital outlay been increased to Rs 1.39 lakh crore for indigenous systems, but overall, it has been raised to Rs 2.19 lakh crore, which is very positive for the development of systems within the country."
He added that the increase in the capital budget of DRDO will help the organisation develop new technologies as well as new indigenous systems.
