Source : Indian Defence Updates (IDU)
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The price of the latest BrahMos Block-III variant is $3.5 million, BrahMos Extended Range variant costs $4.85 million, while the Air-Launched variant costs $5.5 million which makes it very expensive and India currently has the capacity to produce 15 missiles per month.
Keeping in mind that Russia is running out of precision-guided cruise missiles due to shortage of western chips, the top brass of the Indian Army have now decided to allow proposals from the Private Sector companies to develop Short to Medium-range cruise missiles that are cheaper to manufacture and can be mounted on 8×8 vehicles to increase their mobility.
Several Private Sector companies had offered to develop low-cost tactical cruise missiles that will be cheaper to manufacture and its production can be ramped up when required.
The Indian Army is currently studying multiple proposals that have been offered and will soon select a few companies for prototype development, the Indian Army wants to have high local content so that production is not affected by the global supply chain crisis.
Solar Industries have offered to develop a variety of ultra low-cost cruise missiles with a range from 150 kilometers to 700 kilometers.
The DRDO is also working on a Long-Range Subsonic Cruise Missile that will have a range of 1,500 kilometers but the program is still in the developmental stage and it might not be ready for production for a few more years.
