MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Indian cruise missiles for the Chilean Navy

Chile will be purchasing multi launch BrahMos cruise missiles from India according to the New Delhi press reporting from Santiago the visit to South America of a top level Indian defence delegation.

Minister of Defence Pranab Mukherjee and the CEO from BrahMos Aerospace Sivathanu Pillai are currently in Chile in the final stages of negotiations with the agreement ready "on the table", according to Indian Navy R/A Madanjit Singh.

However Chilean Defence Ministry sources pointed out "it's not effective to say we're in the last stages", and "anyhow there's nothing further to report on the matter".

But Minister Pranab Mukherjee is quoted by El Mercurio saying that "effectively" the Indian delegation "is negotiating the sale of these equipments to Chile".

"I've met with (Defence) minister Ravinet and we've been having discussions about these issues. Some missiles could be useful for Chile. India is in a position to sell these equipments to Chile", added the Defence minister.

Pranab Mukherjee also mentioned that India has offered certain models of helicopters to Chile, "an issue we've discussed with Mr. Ravinet", adding that if Chile finally purchases the equipment, "India is willing to help Chile manufacture the needed spares for the future".

The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 kilometres, carries a payload of 300 kilograms, twice the speed of sound, and is the only supersonic of its kind.

The Chilean Navy has equipped its destroyers with this missile which is also multiplatform, meaning it can be fired from combat aircrafts, the surface fleet and more recently there have been successful land to land trials.

Last Thursday the Indian delegation met with President Ricardo Lagos in La Moneda.