Context

Thailand in talks with India to buy BrahMos cruise missiles.

About

• In possibly the first sale of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to another country, Thailand.
• As part of the expanding defence cooperation between the two countries, Thailand has made a request for repair and refurbishing their Dornier maritime patrol aircraft.
• Discussions are on to integrate Thailand into India’s coastal surveillance radar chain network.
• The inaugural India, Thailand and Singapore trilateral naval exercise announced at Shangri-La dialogue is scheduled to be held later this year.
• The two navies already conduct a Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) and a new bilateral exercise is also in the works apart from the trilateral.
• As members of the Indian Ocean rim association (IORA) and Indian Ocean Naval symposium (IONS), navies of India and Thailand are working closely in the areas of disaster risk management, maritime security safety, information sharing and interoperability.

 

About BrahMos cruise missiles.

• The BrahMos is a medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarine, ships, aircraft, or land.
• It is the fastest supersonic cruise missile in the world.
• It is a joint venture between the Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroyeniya and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) who together have formed BrahMos Aerospace.
• It is based on the Russian P-800 Oniks cruise missile and other similar sea-skimming Russian cruise missile technology.
• The name BrahMos is a portmanteau formed from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia.
• It is the world's fastest anti-ship cruise missile in operation.