Friday, February 25 2005 14:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Supersonic cruise missile 'BrahMos', a joint venture with Russia, is ready for induction in the armed forces, President Kalam said at New Delhi today (Feb 25, 2005).

The missile, "has been successfully tested for the anti-ship role and is ready for induction," he told a joint sitting of Parliament.

BrahMos is capable of carrying various types of warheads and has a strike range of 290 kms.

Observing that modernisation of the armed forces was one of the Government's priority areas, included in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP), Kalam said there has been an increase in the allocation of funds for modernisation of the three services.

"A number of new projects for induction of various equipment and weapon systems are in progress," he said addressing members of both the Houses.

In the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Kalam, the father of the country's Integrated Missile Development Programme, said that three prototypes of the Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' are undergoing flight-testing and have completed 307 test flights including supersonic flights.

The Integrated Electronic Warfare System 'Samyukta', has been successfully evaluated and accepted by the Army, the President said, adding that 'Sangraha', an electronic warfare system for the Navy has been accepted and production orders placed.

The 'Nag', a third generation anti-tank missile, and 'Akash' surface-to-air missile have undergone successful flight tests, he said.

Kalam said that, as announced in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), a separate Department of Ex-servicemen's welfare has been created in the Defence Ministry.

"This department would give a special focus and thrust to ex-servicemen's welfare," the President said.

The Government, he said, was committed to the promotion of public-private partnership in research and development especially in defence technologies, biotechnology and space and to increase funding for frontier areas of scientific and technological research.

Kalam lauded the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Central Paramilitary forces for playing a "heroic" role in providing immediate relief not just to the tsunami-hit people within the country but also to the affected people in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia.