Thursday, May 12 2005 16:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: For the first time, India today (May 12, 2005) said it was in a position to export missiles.

"India is in a position to export certain categories of missiles," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

However, he said it may not be in national interest to disclose details of queries for missiles from countries.

Mukherjee's comments come in the wake of reports that a number of countries had evinced interest in missile sales from India.

Government has earlier made it clear that it will not violate the provisions of Missile Technology Control Regime.

Several countries have evinced keen interest in the ship-to-ship version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, having a range of 300 km. The missile, a Indo-Russian joint venture has passed trials.

Under the country's Integrated Missile programme, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) produces the short range surface-to-surface Prithvi missile with a range of 150 to 250 kms, Agni I with a range of 700 kms Agni II with a intermediate range of upto 2,500 kms.

DRDO is also producing surface-to-air and ship-to-ship missiles.