Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday inaugurated an Indo-Russian joint venture complex here that will produce and market the supersonic BrahMos missiles, symbolising the changing nature of defence ties between the two "strategic partners".
BrahMos is named after the great rivers of the two countries - the Brahmaputra of India and the Moscow of Russia - and is the outcome of a 1998 inter-governmental agreement between the two countries.
India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia are the joint venture partners of the company.
Inauguration of the BrahMos Joint Venture Complex at BrahMos Aerospace at Kirby Place here was the last engagement of the Russian leader in the capital before he left for Bangalore, India's technology capital.
Putin, who had the annual summit talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday, also held talks with Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Saturday.
Manmohan Singh, addressing a joint press conference with the Russian leader after their talks, described defence cooperation as an "important pillar" of India-Russia relations.
He said cooperation in this field had moved beyond a traditional buyer-seller relationship to one of joint development, production and marketing of sophisticated systems.
The BrahMos joint venture is engaged in the design, development, manufacture and marketing of the supersonic anti-ship cruise missile systems with the participation of multiple Indian and Russian institutions and industries.
According to the company, the Joint Venture BrahMos is an example "integration and promotion of jointly developed high technology military products to the world market".
The first flight-test of the BrahMos missile was conducted in June 2001 at the Interim Test Range on the Orissa coast. Since then variants of the missile have been successfully tested.
--Indo-Asian News Service