India will soon become the first country to have hyper-speed cruise missiles — over 6,000 km per hour — as an agreement for their joint development will be signed with Russia during the visit of President Dmitry Medvedev here in December.
The first unit of Kudan-kulam nuclear plant, built by Russia in Tamil Nadu, will also be commissioned during the visit, slated to begin from December 21.
Mr Medvedev will be undertaking the visit for the annual India-Russia Summit with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during which the two sides will discuss ways to further enhance relations in various fields.
One of the highlights of the visit would be the signing of a contract for joint development of a hypersonic version of the BrahMos cruise missile, defence ministry sources said here.
This version of the missile will have a speed of over 6,000 kmph, making India the only country in the world to possess such missiles of this speed.
The speed of the existing variant of BrahMos is half that of the proposed ones. With a range of 290 km, the hypersonic missiles are expected to be ready by 2015-16, the sources said. The much-delayed first unit of Kudankulam nuclear power plant is also expected to be made operational during the visit of Mr Medvedev, who will be visiting the site for the purpose, they said.